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BV  4501  ,H25  1899 

Hallock,  G.  B.  F.  1856-1953 

Upward  steps 


Upward  Steps 


upward  Steps 


BY 

/ 

GERARD  B.  F.  HALLOCK,  D.D. 

Author  of  "  The  Psalm  of  Shepherdly  Love,''  «'  A  Square 
Man,''  •*  Church  Homelessness,''  etc.,  etc. 


"  Heaven  is  not  reached  by  a  single  bound; 
We  build  the  ladder  by  which  we  rise 
From  the  lowly  earth  to  the  vaulted  skies: 
And  we  mount  to  the  summit  round  by  round. 


THE    WESTMINSTER    PRESS 

PHILADELPHIA,    PA. 
1899 


Copyright,  1899,  by 
The  Trustees  of  the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Publi- 
cation AND  Sabbath-School  Work. 


Contents 

PAOB 

I 

Upward  Steps 9 

II 

Practicing  the  Presence  of  God 19 

III 
Things  that  Keep  Us  from  God 33 

IV 
Love  the  Master  Passion 43 

V 

The  Life  More  Abundant 53 

VI 

Our  Divine  Friend 61 

VII 
In  His  Footprints 73 

VIII 
The  Discipline  of  Difficulties 81 

IX 
Grace  Abounding 89 

X 

The  Making  of  Character 97 

XI 
Chorusing  Our  Graces 109 

XII 
Going  the  Second  INIiLE 119 

5 


Contents 

PAGE 

XIII 
The  Seriousness  of  Working  for  God 127 

XIV 
Daily  Strength  for  Daily  Duty 135 

XV 

Presenting  Jesus  to  Others 145 

XVI 
The  Faith  Measure 153 

XVII 
Following  a  Vision 163 

XVIII 
Influence 179 

XIX 

The  Chamber  of  Communion 197 

XX 

The  Prayer  that  Teaches  to  Pray 203 

XXI 
A  Closed  Door  and  a  Waiting  Saviour 213 

XXII 
Heaven  in  the  Heart 221 


Introduction 

Brooklyn,  Oct.  29,  1897 
Dear  Bro.  Hallock  : 

I  am  right  glad  that  you  propose  to  put  into 
a  more  permanent  form  your  truly  admirable  and 
deeply  spiritual  articles. 

You  are  one  of  the  few  men  who  know  how  to 
present  vital  truths  in  such  a  way  that  people  will 
read  them. 

God  bless  .you  and  your  forthcoming  book  ! 
As  ever,  yours  lovingly, 

Theo.  L.  Cuyler. 


I 

Upward   Steps 


Upward    Steps 


Upward  Steps 

To  be  saved  is  to  be  safe,  and  that  is  the  thing  of 
infinite  importance  to  every  soul.  '*  BeHeve  on  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  But 
there  is  an  attainment  possible  and  very  desirable 
to  Christians  beyond  the  fact  of  being  safe  through 
Christ.  It  is  that  of  knowing  that  we  are  safe.  A 
Northern  soldior  inside  the  Southern  picket  lines  was 
safe ;  but  he  did  not  know  it,  for  he  had  not  heard 
that  the  war  was  over.  It  is  a  Christian's  privi- 
lege both  to  be,  safe  and  to  feel  safe.  Many  get  no 
further  than  to  a  state  wherein  they  think  they  may  be 
safe,  or  hope  that  they  are ;  but  the  Bible  says,  '*  He 
that  beheveth  on  the  Son  hath  eternal  life."  Con- 
scious that  we  have  fixed  our  trust  on  Christ  alone 
for  salvation,  it  is  our  privilege  to  know  that  we 
have  eternal  life  dwelling  within  us,  to  come  to 
Christian  assurance,  to  arrive  at  spiritual  certainty. 

One  cannot  be  either  strong  or  happy  while  in 
uncertainty.  If  you  do  not  feel  safe,  do  not  know 
that  you  are  a  Christian,  you  are  likely  to  be  both 
unhappy  and  weak.  Imagine  the  feelings  of  the 
father  and  mother  of  one  of  our  boys  who  went  to 
the  Cuban  war.  Their  only  and  greatly  loved  son 
II 


Upward    Steps 

sails  away  with  his  regiment.  There  is  terrible 
fighting  at  Siboney,  San  Juan  Hill  and  Santiago. 
The  parents  hear  all  about  this.  There  are  many 
killed,  many  more  wounded,  and  more  yet  dying 
of  exposure  and  disease.  The  parents  know  this. 
Who  can  tell  the  anguish  of  those  parents'  hearts 
until  the  time  when  upon  rehable  authority  they  are 
assured  that  their  boy  is  safe?  '^ Thinks"  and 
"  hopes  "  and  "  maybes  "  do  not  satisfy  them  con- 
cerning their  son's  welfare.  Will  '<  thinks"  and 
''hopes"  and  "maybes"  satisfy  you,  then,  in  the 
matter  of  your  soul's  eternal  good  ?  No,  you  must 
continue  comparatively  weak  and  unhappy  until 
you  can  arrive  at  certainty  about  it.  The  fact  is 
that  Christian  assurance  is  an  attainment  of  a  great 
deal  more  importance  than  people  usually  think. 

The  matter  of  our  safety  as  Christians  is  quite 
independent  of  our  thoughts  or  feelings  about 
safety.  The  Northern  soldier  was  safe  inside  the 
Southern  lines,  however  fearful  and  cautious  he 
felt.  The  one  who  believes  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  is  saved  whether  he  feels  saved  or  not. 
Safety  does  not  depend  on  feeling,  but  on  the  sav- 
ing work  of  Christ.  As  the  Rev.  F.  B.  Meyer  says : 
"The  order  is  not  feeling,  fact,  faith;  or  feeling, 
faith,  fact ;  but  it  is,  first,  God's  facts,  which  are 
laid  as  a  foundation  of  adamant ;  then  our  faith, 
which  apprehends  God's  facts  and  rests  upon  them ; 
finally  feelings  come  when  we  fulfill  the  conditions 
upon  which  they  depend."    But  safety  is  independ- 

12 


Upward    Steps 

ent  of  feeling.  One  Israelitish  family,  the  night 
of  the  first  passover,  may  have  been  in  great  dread ; 
another  may  have  been  peaceful  and  confident. 
But  which  was  safer  ?  The  fact  is  that  the  firstborn 
of  both  were  safe  alike,  the  blood  being  sprinkled 
on  the  doorposts,  no  matter  what  were  the  feelings 
of  the  families.  All  the  Old  Testament  offerings  for 
sin  brought  safety  to  the  offerer  in  the  same  way. 
The  substitute  died  and  the  sinner  went  free.  Our 
safety  is  in  Christ — his  finished  work.  When  we 
accept  him  as  our  Redeemer  our  safety  is  secured 
by  his  sacrifice  and  constant  intercession  for  us. 
It  does  not  depend  on  fluctuating  feelings,  but  upon 
his  atoning  work. 

But  it  is  the  privilege  of  Christians  to  go  on  to 
the  higher  attainment — that  of  knowing  we  are 
safe,  of  having  certainty.  Both  Israelitish  families 
we  have  referred  to  were  safe.  But  the  family  that 
was  both  safe  and  certain,  that  was  both  safe  and 
felt  safe,  was  the  one  that  rested  upon  God's  un- 
failing word  of  promise.  Certainty  does  not  de- 
pend on  feeling.  How  is  the  Christian  to  know 
that  he  has  eternal  Hfe  ?  There  is  a  definite 
answer  in  God's  word :  ''  These  things  have  I 
written  unto  you  that  believe  on  the  name  of  the 
Son  of  God  ;  that  ye  may  know  that  ye  have  eter- 
nal life."  I  John  v.  13.  I  have  written  !  It  de- 
pends, then,  upon  our  resting  in  something  God  has 
said.  Our  safety  depends  upon  a  work  of  God,  a 
provision  he  has  made  for  us  ;  but  our  certainty  de- 
13 


Upward    Steps 

pends  upon  our  believing  his  word.  We  get  safety 
when  we  believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  we  get 
certainty  when  we  wholly  rely  upon  God's  word. 
The  sprinkled  blood  makes  us  safe;  the  spoken 
word  makes  us  sure.  "  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto 
you.  He  that  believeth  on  me  hath  everlasting 
life."  That  settles  it;  no  'Mfs  "  or  ''ands"  or 
"perhapses"  about  it.  If  you  would  be  sure  of 
your  own  blessing,  then  listen  not  to  the  unstable 
testimony  of  inward  emotions,  but  to  the  infallible 
witness  of  the  word  of  God. 

«'  Once  it  was  the  blessing, 
Now  it  is  the  Lord ; 
Once  it  was  the  feeling, 
Now  it  is  his  word." 

'^But  if  I  am  saved,"  says  one,  ''  how  is  it  that 
I  have  such  a  fluctuating  experience,  so  often 
losing  all  my  joy  and  comfort,  and  becoming 
almost  as  wretched  and  downcast  as  I  was  before 
my  conversion  ?  " 

This  brings  up  the  matter  of  the  still  further  at- 
tainment we  may  reach,  that  of  Christian  joy. 
The  sustained  enjoyments  of  salvation,  how  are 
these  attained  ?  We  will  find  by  a  careful  study  of 
the  Scriptures  that  while  we  are  saved  by  Christ's 
work,  and  assured  by  God's  word,  we  are  main- 
tained in  comfort  and  joy  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  the 
source  of  spiritual  life  and  light.  Our  spiritual  joy 
will  be  in  proportion  to  the  spiritual  character  of 
14 


Upward    Steps 

our  walk  and  conversation.  If  we  abide  in  Christ 
our  joy  will  be  full.  When  we  are  walking  worthy 
of  the  Lord  the  Holy  Spirit  will  be  producing  in 
our  souls  his  blessed  fruits, — ''love,  joy,  peace." 
When  we  are  walking  in  a  carnal,  worldly  way  the 
Spirit  is  grieved,  and  these  fruits  are  wanting  in 
greater  or  less  measure.  Our  safety  hangs  upon 
Christ's  work  for  us ;  our  assurance  upon  God's 
word  to  us  ;  our  enjoyment  upon  our  not  grieving 
the  Holy  Spirit  in  us. 

Your  child  disobeys  you.  Only  a  few  moments 
before  you  were  strolling  together  in  affectionate 
conversation.  In  other  words,  he  was  in  com- 
munion with  you  ;  his  feelings  and  sympathies  were 
in  accord  with  yours.  But  now  all  is  changed,  and 
as  a  naughty,  disobedient  child  he  stands  off  at  a 
distance,  the  very  picture  of  misery.  Where  is  the 
joy  of  a  few  moments  ago  ?  All  gone.  Why  ? 
Because  communion  between  you  and  him  has 
been  interrupted.  Remember  that  it  is  communion 
which  is  interrupted,  not  relationship.  He  is  your 
son  still.  You  are  his  father  still.  Relationship 
depends  upon  birth;  communion  upon  behavior. 
By  and  by  the  boy  comes  out  of  the  corner,  rushes 
into  your  arms  and  confesses  his  fault.  Communion 
is  restored. 

When  David  sinned  so  greatly  in  the  matter  of 

Uriah's  wife,  he  did  not  say,  ''Restore  unto  me 

thy  salvation,"  but,  "  Restore  unto  me  the  joy  of 

thy  salvation."    The  father  would  save  his  boy  out 

15 


upward   Steps 

of  a  burning  building  just  as  surely  and  as  quickly 
while  out  of  communion  as  if  all  were  well  between 
them.  The  love  of  relationship  is  one  thing,  the 
joy  of  communion  is  quite  another.  If  we  want 
spiritual  joy  we  must  confess  and  watch  against  and 
fight  and  pray  against  our  sins,  and  cultivate  in 
every  possible  way  the  grace  of  fellowship  with 
Christ.  "Abide  in  me,  that  your  joy  may  be 
full."  We  all  want  Christian  joy.  We  long  for  it; 
we  pray  for  it.  Yet  it  is  possible  to  become  all  the 
more  miserable  trying  to  get  joy.  For  joy  does  not 
come  that  way, — by  trying.  Joy  is  an  effect.  Ful- 
fill the  cause  and  you  will  have  the  effect  without 
trying.  We  get  joy  by  fulfilling  its  condition, 
which  is  abiding  in  Christ.  Struggling  after  Chris- 
tian joy  without  fulfilling  its  condition  is  like  agon- 
izing with  God  in  prayer  for  a  crop  on  your  field 
without  fulfilling  the  conditions  of  plowing,  sowing 
and  cultivating.  Fulfill  the  condition  and  you  will 
have  Christian  joy;  and  the  condition  is  abiding  in 
the  vine,  the  maintaining  of  communion  with  Christ 
through  faith  and  loving  obedience.  Grieve  not 
the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  with  willful  sin.  Cultivate 
the  grace  of  communion.  Abide  in  ^Christ  that 
your  joy  may  be  full.  The  nearer  we  live  to  him 
the  more  joy  we  shall  have. 

Trust  Christ's  work  for  your  safety.     Trust  his 

word  for  your  certainty.     Walk  in  the  Spirit  for 

your  joy.     Do  not  mistrust  God  if  your  joy  ceases ; 

but  confess  and  forsake  your  sins,  which  interrupted 

i6 


Upward    Steps 

communion,  and  begin  anew  to  serve  him.  ^'  Prac- 
tice the  presence  of  God."  Live  the  hfe  of  priv- 
ilege, and  your  days  will  be  filled  with  joy  and  peace 
in  believing.  The  upward  steps  are  from  safety  to 
certainty  and  from  certainty  to  enjoyment.  "  Covet 
the  best  gifts." 


Filled  with  the  Spirit !  oh,  marvelous  gift ! 
Filled  with  the  Spirit !  oh,  blessed  uplift ! 
Filled  with  his  presence,  my  Saviour  I  see, 
See  him  as  never  before  seen  by  me. 
Precious  Redeemer !  O  Jesus  my  all, 
Gladly  I  give  thee  my  life  at  thy  call ! 

Free  from  all  envy  and  free  from  all  strife. 
Filled  with  the  Spirit,  how  sweet  is  my  life ! 
Trials  may  come ;  nay,  they  do  come  to  me, 
Come  like  the  waves  of  a  tempest-rocked  sea  ; 
Wounded  I  s-m,  yet  I'm  kept  sweet  and  calm, 
Finding  in  Jesus  a  precious,  sure  balm. 

Claiming  the  promise  in  Jesus'  dear  name. 
Emptied  of  self,  and  with  love  all  aflame, 
Filled  with  the  Spirit,  I  walk  with  my  I>ord, 
Kept  by  his  power  in  sweetest  accord  ; 
Safe  in  his  presence,  secure  from  all  ill, 
Weak  though  I  am,  I  can  do  my  Lord's  will. 

Filled  with  the  power  of  the  blessed  Holy  Ghost, 
Given  through  grace  alone,  lest  I  should  boast. 
Though  I  speak  not  with  miraculous  tongue, 
Jesus  is  in  every  song  that  is  sung ; 
Strengthened  with  might  by  the  Spirit  within, 
Precious  lost  souls  for  my  Lord  I  can  win. 

17 


Upward    Steps 


Filled  with  the  Spirit  !  oh,  glorious  feast, 
Promised  to  all ;  aye,  even  to  the  least  ! 
Brought  to  his  banqueting  house  by  the  King, 
Rapturous  joy  to  the  soul  he  doth  bring ; 
Glad  hallelujahs  and  p?eans  of  praise 
Rise  unto  him,  when  we  walk  in  his  ways." 


i3 


II 

Practicing  the  Presence  of  God 


Practicing  the  Presence  of  God 

That  in  these  busy,  hurrying  times  we  need  to  be 
stirred  afresh  to  the  exercise  of  fellowship  with  God, 
few  Christians  will  deny.  That  fellowship  with 
God  is  a  blessed  exercise,  all  who  know  anything 
at  all  about  Christian  experience  will  agree.  '<  It 
is  good  for  me  to  draw  near  to  God,"  is  a  common 
sentiment  of  Christians ;  but  the  drawing  near  and 
the  living  near  are  not  nearly  so  common  as  attain- 
ments. The  fact  that  we  can  draw  near  to  God 
implies  the  fact  also  that  it  is  possible  to  live  at  a 
distance  from  God,  which  too  many  among  even 
professed  Christians  do. 

God  is  always  near  us.  He  is  not  an  absentee 
needing  to  be  brought  down  from  the  heavens  or 
up  from  the  deep.  But  we  too  much  fail  to  realize 
his  presence.  We  often  pass  hours,  days,  and  even 
weeks,  almost  without  thought  of  God. 

How  different  is  this  failure  to  realize  the  pres- 
ence of  God  from  the  experience  of  his  nearness 
realized  by  some  !  Brother  Lawrence,  the  simple- 
minded  cook,  tells  us  that  for  more  than  sixty  years 
he  never  lost  the  sense  of  the  presence  of  God,  but 
was  as  conscious  of  it  while  performing  the  duties 

21 


Upward  Steps 

of  his  humble  office,  as  when  partaking  of  the  Holy 
Supper. 

It  is  said  to  have  been  the  humbly-confessed  ex- 
perience of  Mr.  Spurgeon  that  he  never  passed 
fifteen  minutes  of  his  waking  life  without  the  con- 
sciousness of  God  and  his  nearness.  If  only  such 
an  experience  of  the  nearness  of  God  were  always 
ours,  enwrapping  us  as  the  air  or  light ;  if  only  we 
could  feel,  as  the  great  apostle  put  it  on  Mars'  Hill, 
that  God  is  not  far  away,  that  ''  in  him  we  live,  and 
move,  and  have  our  being,"  then  we  should  know 
what  David  meant  when  he  spoke  of  our  **  dwell- 
ing in  the  secret  place  of  the  most  high,"  or  of  our 
"  abiding  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty." 
Then,  too,  we  should  acquire  the  blessed  secret  of 
the  Spirit-filled  life,  the  life  of  privilege,  the  overcom- 
ing life. 

Let  none  of  us  get  the  impression  that  this  kind 
of  living  is  something  vague  and  visionary  and  be- 
yond our  reach.  It  does  not  require  that  we  should 
hide  away  from  the  world  as  monks  or  nuns  in  con- 
vent or  monastery.  It  is  something  both  desirable 
and  available  and  also  intensely  practical,  and  not 
in  the  least  incompatible  with  the  duties  of  do- 
mestic, social  and  business  life.  Indeed  it  is  some- 
thing to  be  maintained  in  the  midst  of  all  these. 
The  practicing  of  the  presence  of  God  is  never  a 
hindrance  to  the  best  sort  of  daily,  secular  living ; 
but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  a  great  help  toward  ac- 
complishing the  same  most  calmly,  most  comfort- 

22 


Practicing  the  Presence  of  God 

ably  and  also  most  successfully.  It  is  simply 
the  life  of  which  so  busy  a  man  as  St.  Paul  speaks 
when  he  says:  "Nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  To  live  this  interior  life 
is  to  have  an  abiding  sense  of  God's  presence.  It 
implies  the  maintenance  of  an  unbroken  conscious- 
ness of  our  union  with  him. 

''Just  what  is  involved,"  it  may  be  asked,  '*in 
this  practicing  of  the  presence  of  God  ?  "  As  a 
first  step,  it  involves  the  yielding  of  ourselves  cor- 
dially and  fully  to  God.  It  is  not  enough  for  us  to 
give  time,  talents,  energy  and  money.  *'  Yield  ye 
yourselves  unto  God,  as  those  that  are  alive  from 
the  dead."  Many  will  gladly  give  anything  lather 
than  themselves.  But  what  God  wants  is  not  ours, 
but  us.  At  least  he  wants  us  first  of  all.  His  call 
is,  "  My  son,  my  daughter,  give  me  thine  heart." 
There  must 'be,  first,  a  full  surrender  of  ourselves 
unto  God  before  any  abounding  blessedness  can 
come.  The  one  is  the  result  of  the  other, — the 
blessedness  of  the  yielding. 

This  yielding  of  ourselves  to  God  should  be  also 
a  definite  response  to  recognized  duty.  We  belong 
to  God.  It  is  for  us,  then,  to  recognize  his  owner- 
ship,— to  say  with  Paul,  "Whose  I  am,"  as  well 
as,  "Whom  I  serve."  We  are  first  of  all  to  be 
God's,  given  up  to  his  ownership,  yielding  over  to 
his  possession,  set  apart  to  his  name.  Abstracting 
ourselves  from  all  other  claims  of  ownership,  not 
belonging  to  the  world,  not  belonging  to  Satan,  not 
23 


Upward  Steps 

belonging  to  ourselves,  but  recognizing  God's  en- 
tire right  in  us,  we  are  to  honor  that  right  exclu- 
sively and  yield  ourselves  heartily,  fully  and  forever 
to  his  control. 

This  yielding,  too,  must  be  a  definite  and  deci- 
sive act  of  the  will.  The  reason  so  many  fail  in 
attaining  the  Spirit-filled  life  is,  not  that  they  do 
not  desire  it,  but  that  there  are  certain  points  of 
mental  reserve  on  which  they  hold  back  from  God, 
preferring  to  have  their  own  way  and  will  rather 
than  his.  It  is  one  essential  step  in  practicing  the 
presence  of  God  that  we  yield  our  will  entirely  to 
him. 

Not  only  so,  but  this  yielding  should  be  an 
irrevocable  act  of  faith.  It  should  be  a  deliberate, 
intentional,  once-for-all  going  over  to  God,  will- 
ingly, gladly,  trustingly,  and  without  mental  reserve 
or  any  set  conditions.  Whether  with  a  sense  of  his 
acceptance  or  without  it ;  whether  with  a  rush  of 
feeling  or  without  such  an  experience,  it  should  be 
such  a  casting  of  ourselves  upon  God  with  such  a 
manifestation  of  faith  marking  the  act  that  we  will 
believe  that  God  has  accepted  us,  and  go  forward 
in  that  belief.  We  will  not  wait  to  feel  that  God 
has  accepted  our  self-dedication,  but  we  will  be- 
lieve that  he  has,  reckoning  upon  his  faithfulness  to 
his  word.  When  we  draw  near  it  must  be  with  '*  a 
true  heart  in  full  assurance  of  faith." 

The  practicing  of  the  presence  of  God  involves, 
furthermore,  the  absolute  putting  away  of  every 
24 


Practicing  the  Presence  of  God 

known  sin  and  a  determinate  decision  to  resist 
every  assault  of  evil.  We  cannot  expect  to  have 
God's  special  manifestations  of  favor  unless  we 
bring  our  life  under  the  full  light  of  his  countenance 
and  let  him  show  us  everything  that  is  wrong  in  us. 
Whatever  he  sees  there  that  is  wrong,  or  makes 
known  to  us  as  wrong,  we  are  to  make  it  our  first 
business  to  do  the  work  of  rooting  out.  Letting  in 
the  light  may  reveal  much  dust  in  the  corners  of  a 
room.  So  letting  in  the  light  of  God's  gaze  may 
discover  much  that  is  evil  in  our  life.  But  never- 
theless we  are  to  welcome  the  light,  whatever  it 
may  reveal,  and  then  set  ourselves  at  once  to  the 
clearing  away  of  the  debris.  Does  God  discover 
to  you  some  evil  practice  or  habit  you  have  been 
indulging  ?  Is  there  some  secret  sin  that  has  been 
gnawing  at  the  vitals  of  your  spirituality?  Have 
you  permitted  your  affections  to  roam  unrestricted 
after  forbidden  objects?  Do  you  cherish  resent- 
ment or  hate  toward  some  one  and  refuse  to  be  re- 
conciled? Is  there  some  injustice  you  refuse  to 
forgive,  some  charge  you  refuse  to  pay,  some  wrong 
you  refuse  to  confess?  Alas,  in  the  case  of  the 
most  of  us  it  needs  but  little  searching;  for  we 
know  the  besetting  sin,  the  favorite  idol,  which 
keeps  God  out.  Too  often  we  lack  the  desire  or 
the  will  to  cast  it  out  of  our  heart.  But  we  must 
do  it ;  otherwise  we  can  never  enter  into  the  de- 
sired experience  of  this  inner  life.  We  cannot  prac- 
tice the  presence  of  God  while  cherished  sin  is 
25 


Upward  Steps 

there.  Mark,  I  do  not  say  sin,  for  we  all  sin  and 
come  short  of  the  glory  of  God  ;  but  I  say  we 
cannot  practice  the  presence  of  God  while  cherished 
sin,  permitted  sin,  sin  unwatched-against,  sin  un- 
fought-against,  sin  unprayed -against  is  there.  If 
we  would  draw  near  to  God  it  must  be  with  true 
hearts  as  well  as  with  full  assurance  of  faith. 

This  practicing  the  presence  of  God  involves, 
furthermore,  the  diligent  cultivation  of  every 
spiritual  grace.  For  one  thing,  we  must  think  of 
God.  That  is  to  say  we  must  strive  constantly  to 
realize  his  presence,  rejoicingly  desiring  him  near 
as  the  Friend  from  whom  we  would  never  be 
separated,  in  work,  in  prayer,  in  recreation,  in  re- 
pose. For  the  practice  of  the  presence  of  God  you 
must  to  some  worthy  degree  realize  that  wondrous 
truth  revealed  by  John,  that  man  dwells  in  God 
and  God  in  man.  You  must  try  to  realize  the 
presence  of  God  with  you  and  within  you.  Say  to 
yourself  over  and  over  again  every  day,  and  many 
times  in  the  day  :  "  God  is  here."  ''  God  is  with 
me."  *'  God  is  within  me."  "  God  is  my  Father." 
'*  I  am  God's  child."  <'  I  am  in  my  Father's  pres- 
ence." ''God  is  love,  and  God  loves  me."  Abide 
in  him.  Let  his  words  and  will  abide  in  you. 
Cultivate  this  habit  of  mind,  this  grace  of  inter- 
course with  God,  and  by  and  by  you  will  arrive  at 
the  state  of  an  unbroken  and  delightful  conscious- 
ness of  God's  nearness  to  you,  his  presence  with 
you. 

26 


Practicing  the  Presence  of  God 

Dear  fellow-disciples  of  Christ,  let  us  not  fail  to 
understand  that  all  this  is  infinitely  more  than 
worth  our  while.  No  one  can  overstate  the  de- 
lights there  are  in  a  Christ-filled  life.  The  happiest 
days  you  have  ever  known  were  the  days  when  you 
were  living  nearest  to  Christ  and  most  conscious  of 
his  nearness  to  you.  Think  what  joy  it  would  be 
to  get  into  a  sustained  and  stable  Christian  expe- 
rience like  the  best  you  have  known,  walking  with 
God  all  the  day  and  every  day. 

There  is  one  thing  we  must  not  overlook  which 
is  almost  essential  to  such  a  life — it  is  the  being 
frequently  alone  with  God.  We  can  have  him 
with  us  in  life's  activities  in  any  full  degree  only 
when  we  give  ourselves  suitable  pause  in  which  to 
think  of  God,  to  commune  with  him,  and  let  him 
come  in  and  iill  our  souls.  The  time  need  not  be 
long,  but  it  should  be  habitual ;  preferably  in  the 
early  part  of  the  day  when  our  minds  are  fresh  and 
our  hearts  unburdened.  Every  soul  of  us  needs 
this  intercourse  with  God,  and  when  we  get  it  the 
effect  is  like  when  one  looks  at  the  sun.  You  gaze 
a  moment  at  the  sun,  and  then  look  about  you  on 
the  earth,  and  everywhere  you  see  the  sun.  Up 
the  street,  in  yonder  doorway,  among  the  hurrying 
people ;  you  seem  to  have  brought  the  sun  down 
by  your  look  and  now  you  see  it  all  about  you. 
This  same  thing  is  what  happens  too,  disciple  of 
Christ,  when  you  recognize  the  religious  value  of  a 
quiet  hour  and  give  yourself  pause  to  look  into  the 
27 


Upward  Steps 

face  of  God.  By  so  doing  you  bring  him  down 
into  your  immediate  surroundings.  In  the  midst  of 
the  thronging  people  who  press  upon  your  daily 
life,  when  you  enter  the  doorway  of  your  office, 
store  or  shop,  or  duties  pursue  you  in  the  home, 
everywhere  you  see  God,  are  conscious  of  his  pres- 
ence, and  walk  with  his  light  irradiating  the  whole 
horizon  of  your  activities.  We  break  the  law  of 
spiritual  growth  and  fail  to  learn  one  of  the  lessons 
of  the  life  of  Christ  if  we  fail  to  take  such  hours. 
No  Christian  has  a  right  to  undertake  so  much  and 
to  be  so  busy  that  he  cannot,  at  least  occasionally, 
take  them.  They  give  spiritual  refreshment,  and 
a  firmer,  steadier  hand  and  a  warmer  heart  for 
every  task. 

But  we  must  not  only  think  about  God,  and  some- 
times be  alone  with  him  :  we  must  listen  to  his 
voice.  He  is  not  a  silent  God.  He  speaks  to  us, 
— through  his  works,  through  his  word,  through 
his  Spirit.  If  we  would  practice  the  presence  of 
God  we  must  listen  to  him  when  he  speaks.  We 
must  be  attentive  to  his  counsels.  We  must  heed 
his  commands.  We  must  answer  his  invitations. 
We  must  enter  into  communion  with  him.  Some- 
times when  we  talk  with  him  by  the  way  he  tarries 
to  make  one  with  us  and  to  open  to  us  the  Scrip- 
tures. Let  us  listen  to  him  then,  for  he  will  cause 
our  hearts  to  burn  within  us  with  holy  joy.  Take 
time  to  listen  to  him.  Have  set  times  to  meet  him. 
Prize  every  opportunity  for  intercourse  with  him. 
28 


Practicing  the  Presence  of  God 

Let  your  attitude  be  always,  ''  Speak,  Lord;  for  thy 
servant  heareth."  Be  sure  of  this,  that  God  has 
much  to  say  to  all  those  who  will  attentively  listen 
to  his  voice. 

It  is  well  to  listen,  but  you  should  also  speak  to 
God.  Express  your  love  for  him;  bring  your  de- 
sires to  him ;  make  known  your  gratitude  for  the 
gifts  of  his  love.  Hold  converse  with  him  in  the 
hours  of  morning  meditation,  in  the  set  times  for 
prayer  and  the  study  of  his  word,  in  the  quick, 
ejaculatory  petitions  of  the  busiest  moments  of  the 
day.  Tell  him  of  your  failures,  confess  to  him 
your  sins,  ask  him  for  his  help.  Talk  with  him 
thus ;  do  it  often,  taking  to  him  all  your  purposes 
and  your  plans,  your  duties  and  your  desires,  and 
make  of  him  your  most  intimate  companion  and 
friend. 

Then,  love'  God.  Be  devoted  to  him,  and  to 
him  supremely.  Have  no  affections  apart  from 
him.  All  lawful  loves, — your  wife,  your  children, 
your  kindred,  your  friends, — love  them  in  God, 
not  them  and  God.  Serve  God,  but  see  that  you 
serve  him  out  of  love, — not  because  you  must,  but 
because  you  will.  Wait  upon  him  in  prayer,  in  the 
study  of  his  word,  in  his  sanctuary,  in  the  ordinan- 
ces of  his  house  and  in  the  ways  of  active  service, 
not  out  of  mere  custom,  but  because  through  these 
all  you  grow  in  the  knowledge  of  God,  into  inti- 
macy with  God,  and  into  all  the  manifold  experi- 
ences of  his  grace. 

29 


Upward  Steps 

There  are  some  blessed  secrets  connected  with  such 
a  life  as  this, — a  life  spent  in  the  practice  of  the  pres- 
ence of  God.  We  can  recount  such  secrets  only 
in  the  briefest  possible  way ;  but  it  is  worth  our  while 
to  know  that  this  practice  of  the  presence  of  God  is 
the  secret  of  peace.  One  cannot  be  greatly  dis- 
turbed with  God  so  near.  It  is  the  secret  of  con- 
tentment. Having  God,  we  have  all.  It  is  the 
secret  of  power.  In  touch  with  God,  we  .are  con- 
nected with  the  great  dynamic  source  of  all  power. 
It  is  the  secret  of  a  life  of  highest  happiness  and 
joy.  It  is  the  secret  of  living  a  life  of  love  and 
of  highest  usefulness  to  others.  Guidance  mid  life's 
perplexities,  wisdom  for  life's  decisions,  cheer  for 
life's  sorrows  and  help  over  life's  hard  places,  all 
come  with  it.  Both  for  the  sake  of  the  present  and 
the  future  good  it  is  worth  the  while  of  every  Chris- 
tian to  set  about  the  deliberate,  sensible,  love- 
prompted  and  persistent  practicing  of  the  presence 
of  God.  Each  one  who  thus  drawing  near  to  God 
shall  "  abide  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty," 
can  say  with  some  such  sense  of  blessedness  as  was 
felt  by  Ellen  Lakshmi  Goreh,  of  India,  that  de- 
vout convert  from  heathenism,  when  she  penned 
the  beautiful  words  and  thoughts  of  that  remarkably 
sweet  and  spiritual  poem,  *'In  the  Secret  of  His 
Presence ' '  : 

"  In  the  secret  of  his  presence  how  my  soul  delights  to  hide  ! 
Oh,  how  precious  are  the  lessons  which  I  learn  at  Jesus' 
side! 

30 


Practicing  the  Presence  of  God 

Earthly  cares  can  never  vex  me,  neither  trials  lay  me  low; 
For  when   Satan  comes  to  tempt  me,  to  the  secret  place 
I  go. 

«•  When  my  soul  is  faint  and  thirsty,  'neath  the  shadow  of 

his  wing 
There  is  cool  and  pleasant  shelter,  and  a  fresh  and  crystal 

spring  ;■ 
And  my  Saviour  rests  beside  me,  as  we  hold  communion 

sweet : 
If  I  tried,  I  could  not  utter  what  he  says  when  thus  we 

meet. 

"  Only  this  I  know :  I   tell  him  all  my  doubts,  my  griefs, 

and  fears ; 
Oh,  how  patiently  he  listens !  and  my  drooping  soul  he 

cheers  : 
Do  you  think  he  ne'er  reproves  me  ?  what  a  false  friend 

he  would  be, 
If  he  never,  never  told  me  of  the  sins  which  he  must  see. 

"  Would  you  like  to  know  the  sweetness  of  the  secret  of  the 
Lord? 

Go  and  hide  beneath  his  shadow  :  this  shall  then  be  your 
reward ; 

And  when  e'er  you  leave  the  silence  of  that  happy  meet- 
ing place, 

You  must  mind  and  bear  the  image  of  the  Master  in  your 
face." 


31 


Ill 


Things  That  Keep  Us  From  God 


Things  That  Keep  Us  From  God 

Few  Christians  there  are  who  are  not  regretfully 
aware  of  living  at  far  too  great  a  distance  from 
God.  Most  of  us  are  sensible  of  a  sad  lack  of  vital 
religion,  of  depth  of  Christian  experience,  and  of 
loving  and  intimate  communion  with  our  heavenly 
Father.  We  would  like  to  live  near  to  him,  and  to 
experience  the  joy  of  fellowship ;  but  we  do  not 
seem  to  succeed.  To  be  sure,  we  do  not  make 
much  effort  in  this  direction.  Our  attitude  is 
rather  that  of  ijidefinite  longing  than  of  making  any 
downright  effort  to  attain.  In  fact,  either  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously,  we  continue  to  do,  or  to 
permit,  the  very  things  that  increase  the  barriers 
between  us  and  God. 

If  any  of  us  are  mourning  the  coldness  of  our 
Christian  living,  it  is  well  for  us  to  face  the  fact 
that  there  are  many  easily  enumerated  things,  pos- 
sibly common  in  our  life,  that  are  sure  to  main- 
tain a  sense  of  distance  between  our  souls  and  our 
Saviour.  It  may  prove  a  real  help  toward  their 
avoidance  if  we  will  definitely  recall  what  some  of 
them  are. 

One  of  these  things  is  simply  the  rush  and  hurry 
35 


Upward  Steps 

of  our  modern  life.  Many  of  us  are  in  danger  of 
being  jostled  out  of  our  spirituality.  We  scarcely 
take  time  to  think.  There  is  a  hymn  we  sometimes 
hear  sung  :  "  Take  time  to  be  holy."  It  takes  time 
to  be  holy.  We  need  time  for  meditation  and 
prayer.  Meditation  kindles  thought,  and  thought 
kindles  love.  Someone  has  said  that  meditation 
is  a  lost  art.  If  so,  then  communion  with  God  is 
in  danger  of  becoming  a  lost  art.  "  Come  ye  your- 
selves apart  into  a  desert  place,  and  rest  a  while." 
Let  us  not  fail  to  take  seasons  for  thought  and  com- 
munion with  God,  and  for  the  cultivation  of  spir- 
itual life.  The  rush  and  hurry  of  our  days  are 
sure  to  stand  between  us  and  true  living  unless  we 
are  very  careful  to  live  in  the  Spirit  and  walk  in 
the  Spirit,  and  to  allow  ourselves  time  in  which 
to  cultivate  the  grace  of  communion  with  God. 

Irregularity  of  spiritual  nourishment  is  another 
thing  that  may  stand  between  us  and  attainment  in 
grace.  Some  of  us  may  take  time  for  religion,  but 
it  is  only  occasionally,  or  at  long  intervals.  We 
read  God's  word  only  at  irregular  periods.  We 
pray  only  occasionally.  We  attend  God's  house 
too  seldom.  Instead,  we  ought  to  seek  spiritual 
nourishment  at  frequent  and  stated  times.  We 
need  communion  with  God  as  much  as  we  need 
our  daily  bread,  and  as  regularly,  too.  There  is 
almost  limitless  resource  in  the  way  of  holding  us 
to  duty  and  of  making  us  strong  in  all  Christian 
attainments  in  the  mere  fact  of  observing  stated 

36 


Things  That  Keep  Us  From  God 

and  regular  seasons  for  spiritual  meditation  and 
prayer  and  nourishment ;  while  the  opposite  of  this 
keeps  us  far  from  God,  makes  us  weak  and  sickly 
in  soul  and  lacking  in  Christian  joy  and  usefulness. 

Another  barrier  between  us  and  God  is  found  in 
the  attractions  of  worldliness.  This  is  a  beautiful 
world.  God  wants  us  to  be  happy  in  it.  We  are 
to  live  in  the  world,  but  we  are  not  to  have  the 
world  live  in  us.  We  are  to  use  the  world  as  not 
abusing  it.  We  are  told  that  while  in  the  world 
we  are  not  to  be  of  it.  A  writer  suggests  that  it  is 
all  right  for  the  boat  to  be  in  the  water,  but  when 
the  water  gets  into  the  boat,  the  boat  sinks.  So 
when  money-getting  and  pleasure  getting  fih  us, 
our  spiritual  life  is  submerged.  Let  us  watch 
against  reserving  the  best  of  our  time  and  the  best 
of  our  talents  for  self.  Nothing  more  certainly 
than  selfishness  will  separate  between  us  and  God. 

Grieving  the  Holy  Spirit  is  another  common 
barrier  that  comes  between  the  Christian  and  his 
Lord.  We  too  commonly  think  of  this  as  a  sin 
only  of  those  who  are  not  Christians ;  but  we  are 
wrong.  To  us  who  are  Christ's  the  good  Mes- 
senger comes  over  and  over  again,  and  we  do  not 
receive  him.  He  points  out  a  duty  and  we  do 
not  do  it.  He  calls  us  to  a  higher  life,  and  we  do 
not  aspire,  or  try  to  climb.  We  turn  him  aside. 
We  drown  his  voice  in  the  confusion  of  earthly 
things.  We  go  on  heedless  of  his  love  and  his 
call.  In  so  doing  we  certainly  grieve  him,  and  cut 
37 


Upward  Steps 

ourselves  away  from  the  grace  and  blessing  of  God. 
*'  Grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God." 

Furthermore,  we  often  display  a  lack  in  the  mat- 
ter of  frank,  full  and  immediate  confession  of  our 
sins.  We  cover  and  excuse  and  make  allowances 
for  the  wrong  things  we  do.  We  permit  too  much 
time  to  elapse  between  sin  and  the  seeking  of  par- 
don. Both  of  these  things  separate  between  us  and 
God.  ''  If  I  regard  iniquity  in  my  heart,  the  Lord 
will  not  hear  me."  ''  He  that  covereth  his  sin 
shall  not  prosper."  Let  us  be  careful  not  to  cover, 
or  excuse,  or  apologize  for  our  sins,  nor  delay  re- 
pentance or  the  seeking  of  pardon  if  we  would  not 
experience  a  growing  sense  of  distance  between  us 
and  God. 

It  needs  scarcely  to  be  added  that  deliberate  dis- 
obedience is  sure  to  drive  us  away  from  God,  and 
turn  his  face  away  from  us.  "  Your  sins  have 
separated  between  you  and  your  God."  This  is 
always  the  result  of  sin.  Sinful  thoughts,  sinful 
imaginations,  sinful  deeds  build  a  high  barrier  be- 
tween us  and  our  Lord.  Of  all  sins  those  com- 
monly spoken  of  as  secret  sins  are  liable  to  be  most 
harmful.  Henry  M.  Stanley  tells  us  that  when  he 
was  passing  through  the  forests  of  darkest  Africa, 
the  most  formidable  foes  he  encountered,  those  that 
caused  the  greatest  loss  of  life  to  his  caravan,  and 
came  near  defeating  his  expedition,  were  the  Wam- 
butti  dwarfs.  These  diminutive  men  had  only 
little  bows  and  arrows  for  weapons,  so  small  that 

38 


Things  That  Keep  Us  From  God 

they  looked  like  children's  playthings;  but  upon 
the  tip  of  each  tiny  arrow  was  a  drop  of  poison 
which  would  kill  an  elephant  or  a  man  as  surely 
and  as  quickly  as  a  rifle.  Their  defense  was  by 
means  of  poison  and  traps.  They  would  steal 
through  the  dense  forest,  and,  waiting  in  ambush, 
let  fly  their  arrows  before  they  could  be  discovered. 
They  dug  ditches  and  carefully  covered  them  with 
sticks  and  leaves.  They  fixed  spikes  in  the  ground 
and  tipped  them  with  poison.  Into  these  ditches 
and  on  these  spikes  man  and  beast  would  fall  or 
step  to  their  death.  One  of  the  strangest  things 
about  it  was  that  their  poison  was  made  of  honey. 

It  is  thus  that  Satan  wages  his  destructive  war- 
fare against  God's  people.  Stealthily,  under  cover 
of  darkness,  by  treachery,  with  weapons  seemingly 
harmless,  through  the  sweets  of  life,  he  comes 
clothed  as  ''an  angel  of  light."  Yet  how  deadly 
are  the  little  honey-coated  sins  which  he  adminis- 
ters, how  sure  the  destruction  of  him  who  is  de- 
ceived into  wandering  from  the  straight  and  nar- 
row way  ! 

What  are  some  of  these  sins  usually  thought  of 
as  little  sins  ?  There  are  sins  which  by  comparison 
with  great  sins  men  call  little.  Ill  temper  in  family, 
commercial  and  church  relations ;  a  light  and 
frivolous  spirit ;  remissness  in  religious  duties  ;  so- 
cial whispering,  slandering  and  backbiting  ;  vanity 
and  folly  in  dress ;  indulgence  in  hurtful  amuse- 
ments ;  careless  and  impure  conversation ;  pride, 
39 


Upward  Steps 

etc.     There  is  a  host  of  these 
might  easily  find. 

What  is  the  harm  they  do  ?  They  injure  our 
consciences  by  hardening  them  ;  they  relax  our  de- 
votion to  and  prevent  our  communion  with  God ; 
they  hinder  the  presence  of  Christ  with  us ;  they 
grieve  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  especially,  they  make 
way  for  greater  sins. 

There  is  an  Indian  story  of  a  morsel  of  a  dwarf 
who  asked  a  king  to  give  him  all  the  ground  he 
could  cover  with  three  strides.  The  king,  seeing 
him  so  small,  said,  <' Certainly  "  ;  whereupon  the 
dwarf  suddenly  shot  up  into  a  tremendous  giant, 
covering  all  the  land  with  the  first  stride,  and  all 
the  water  with  the  second,  and  with  the  third 
knocked  the  king  down  and  took  his  throne. 

It  is  said  that  a  man  one  day  strolling  along  in 
the  country  happened  to  see  a  magnificent  golden 
eagle  flying  bravely  upward  toward  the  sky.  He 
watched  it  with  delight  and  admiration  as  it  so 
strongly  mounted  upward ;  but  presently  he  saw 
that  something  was  wrong  with  it.  It  seemed  un- 
able to  go  any  higher.  Soon  it  began  to  fall,  and 
presently  it  lay  at  his  feet  a  lifeless  mass.  What 
could  be  the  matter  ?  No  human  hand  had  harmed 
it.  No  sportsman's  shot  had  reached  it.  He  went 
and  examined  the  bird ;  and  what  did  he  find  ? 
It  had  carried  up  with  it  a  little  weasel  in  its  talons, 
and  as  it  had  drawn  its  talons  near  to  its  body,  for 
flight,  the  little  creature  had  wormed  itself  partly 
40 


Things  That  Keep  Us  From  God 

out  of  them  and  had  drunk  the  lifeblood  from  the 
eagle's  breast. 

How  hke  this  is  it  with  sin  !  It  may  appear  a 
very  Uttle  thing  one  is  at  first  tempted  to  do,  but 
presently  it  fastens  upon  the  soul  and  works  death 
and  destruction^ 

How  must  little  sins  be  dealt  with  ?  Not  ten- 
derly ;  not  connivingly ;  but  they  must  be  taken. 
We  must  take  them  or  they  will  take  us.  We 
must  down  with  them  or  they  will  down  with  us. 
We  must  watch  against  and  pray  against  and  fight 
against  even  the  smallest  of  sins,  or  by  and  by  we 
shall  be  overcome  of  sin  and  fall  into  utter  spiritual 
ruin.  Look  out  for  the  little  foxes  that  spoil  the 
vines  !  Make  no  place  in  your  life  for  so-called 
minor  evils.  They  are  very  dangerous,  and  even  if 
we  are  not  actually  slain  by  them,  they  are  sure  to 
separate  between  our  souls  and  any  growth  in  grace 
and  enjoyment  of  communion  with  God. 

Let  us  guard  against  the  things  that  separate  be- 
tween our  souls  and  God.  Let  us  cling  to  the 
things  that  promote  nearness  to  God.  The  nearer 
the  stronger.  The  nearer  the  more  useful.  The 
nearer  the  happier. 

•'*  Jesus  keep  me  near  the  cross, 
Bring  its  scenes  before  me  ; 
Help  me  walk  from  day  to  day, 
With  its  shadow  o'er  me." 


41 


IV 

Love  the  Master  Passion 


Love  the  Master  Passion 

There  is  certainly  no  more  sweet  or  efficient  con- 
straint than  that  of  love.  The  best  way  for  a  parent 
to  teach  a  child  to  be  good  is  by  appealing  to  its 
love  rather  than  to  its  fear.  The  child  that  is 
frightened  all  the  time  is  pretty  sure  to  be  ruined. 
It  is  the  drawing  of  the  mother's  affection,  the  re- 
peated appeal  of  the  father's  love,  that  creates  and 
fosters  good  character.  For  the  forming  of  high 
character  and  for  the  accomplishing  of  successful 
work  for  Christ,  what  we  all  need  is  to  come  more 
under  the  power  of  his  constraining  love. 

In  a  chaste,  elegant  little  chapel,  called  the 
''Chapel  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Jesus,"  in  a 
Roman  cathedral,  the  principal  object  is  a  crimson 
lamp  in  the  shape  of  a  heart.  It  is  formed  of  glass 
and  partly  filled  with  oil  on  which  floats  a  tiny 
flame  illumining  the  crimson  glass,  so  that  the  heart 
seems  on  fire, — a  burning  heart,  its  flame  ascending 
before  the  altar  by  day  and  night ! 

In  a  small  box  at  the  side  of  the  chapel  candles 

are  sold  for  twopence  each.      When  a  candle  has 

been  procured  the  ministering  acolyte  lights  it  at 

the  flame  of  the  sacred  heart,  and  hands  it  to  the 

45 


Upward  Steps 

worshiper,  who  then  proceeds,  with  the  lighted  can- 
dle, to  pray  before  a  series  of  historical  pictures, 
following  the  various  stages  of  the  Saviour's  toil 
and  suffering  to  his  sacrifice  on  the  cross. 

Deeply  as  we  may  mourn  the  idolatry  of  Rome's 
many  altars  and  images,  the  scene  may  be  full  of 
suggestion  to  us.  What  is  it  that  many  orthodox 
churches  and  evangelical  Christians  most  need  ? 
What  but  the  reality  (not  the  representation)  of  the 
principle  rudely  indicated  in  the  Chapel  of  the 
Sacred  Heart  ?  Let  our  feeble,  dim  intelligences, 
and  our  poor,  cold  hearts  come  into  contact  with 
the  sacred  heart  of  Jesus,  and,  through  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  illumined  and  kindled  by  the 
fellowship  ;  then  shall  we  understand  the  apostle 
Paul's  experience  and  echo  his  testimony,  when, 
inspired  with  a  quenchless  enthusiasm  of  devotion 
and  consecration,  he  exclaimed,  ''Whether  we  are 
beside  ourselves,  it  is  unto  God ;  or  whether  we  are 
of  sober  mind,  it  is  unto  you.  For  the  love  of 
Christ  constraineth  us."  This  is  the  impelling 
motive  we  need  as  Christians,  the  constraining  love 
of  Christ. 

In  order  to  appreciate  more  fully  how  great  the 
love  of  Christ  is,  let  us  think  of  some  of  the  ways 
in  which  his  love  has  been  displayed. 

It  was  displayed  in  his  coming  to  earth.  He 
came  from  heaven  with  all  its  glory  down  to  earth 
with  all  its  lowly  suffering.  "  The  Word  was  made 
flesh,  and  dwelt  among  us. ' '     He  humbled  himself. 

46 


Love  the  Master  Passion 

He  took  the  form  of  a  servant.  He  placed  himself 
beside  us.  We  are  told  that  when  Mrs.  Booth,  the 
''Mother  of  the  Salvation  Army"  was  a  young 
girl,  she  saw  a  prisoner  being  dragged  to  jail,  and 
his  forlorn  and  lonely  lot  so  appealed  to  her  that 
she  ran  to  his  side  and  walked  with  him  on  his  sor- 
roAvful  way.  This  is  what  Christ  did  by  his  advent. 
He  took  his  place  at  our  side,  identified  himself 
with  us  in  our  need,  and  in  this  very  act  manifested 
a  wonderful  love  for  us. 

See,  too,  how  it  was  displayed  in  his  life  while  on 
earth.  ''He  went  about  doing  good."  "He 
came  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister. ' ' 
How  wonderfully  he  manifested  love  wherever  he 
went !  He  did  it  by  pardoning  the  sinner,  by  heal- 
ing the  diseased,  by  comforting  the  sorrowing,  by 
being  a  friend  to  the  friendless,  a  helper  to  the 
weak,  the  teadher  of  the  ignorant,  and  by  showing 
the  greatest  of  kindness  to  those  seemingly  most 
unworthy  of  it  all.  His  miracles  were  love- 
prompted.  So  were  all  the  gracious  words  that 
proceeded  out  of  his  mouth.  His  life  was  indeed 
a  life  of  love. 

Above  all  he  showed  his  love  through  his  death. 
Behold  him  in  Gethsemane  !  Follow  him  to  Gol- 
gotha !     View  him  on  the  cross  ! 

"  See,  from  his  head,  his  hands,  his  feet 
Sorrow  and  love  flow  mingled  down !  " 

Was  there  ever  sorrow  like  that  sorrow  ?     So,  was 

47 


Upward  Steps 

there  ever  love  like  that  love  ?  Can  we  compre- 
hend these  mysteries,  the  baptism  of  blood,  the  last 
mysterious  agony,  the  complaint  of  being  forsaken 
of  God  ?  We  feel  we  cannot.  They  transcend  all 
thought.  The  love  which  made  him  stoop  to  them 
is  therefore  love  ^'  which  passeth  knowledge."  In- 
finite love  is  displayed  here,  by  the  death  of  Christ 
on  the  cross. 

Our  recognition  of  his  great  love  is  increased 
when  we  realize  the  fact  also  that  this  dying  was 
not  for  the  worthy,  but  for  the  unworthy, — for 
sinners.  *'Perad venture  for  a  good  man  some 
would  even  dare  to  die.  But  God  commendeth  his 
love  toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners, 
Christ  died  for  us."  There  was  not  a  favorable 
trait  in  our  characters  to  commend  us.  We  were 
rebellious  and  repulsive  and  sin-laden ;  and  yet 
Christ  loved  us  and  died  for  us  !  Unparalleled 
love  !  A  Damon  may  offer  himself  to  die  for  Pyth- 
ias. David  may  wish  that  he  had  died  for  his 
son  Absalom ;  but  who  would  die  for  a  criminal  or 
an  enemy  ?  Such  love  as  this,  such  wonderful  love 
was  it  Christ  displayed.  Who  can  fathom  the 
depth  of  such  love  as  that  ? 

Such  love,  love  so  wonderful  as  we  see  Christ's 
to  be,  may  well  prompt  us  to  thoughts  as  to  its  con- 
straining influence.  To  constrain  means  to  urge, 
successfully  to  persuade,  to  bear  away,  to  transport, 
to  impel  forward.  The  love  of  Christ  certainly 
possesses  a  mighty  moving  power.     It  is,  indeed, 

48 


Love  the  Master  Passion 

the  great  instrument  to  all  high  and  holy  attain- 
ment.    It  is  the  true  Christian  motive. 

By  it  we  are  moved  to  enter  the  Christian  life. 
Christ  said,  <'  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up,  will  draw  all  men 
unto  me."  No  one  can  stand  before  the  cross, 
realizing  that  Christ  died  for  him,  and  not  be 
moved  with  an  impulse  to  yield  the  heart  to  him 
and  accept  him  as  his  personal  Redeemer.  ''We 
love  him  because  he  first  loved  us." 

By  it  we  are  prompted  to  confess  ourselves  his 
disciples,  unite  with  his  people  and  make  open  ac- 
knowledgment of  our  devotement  to  him  and  his 
cause. 

A  soldier  on  the  Williamsburg  battlefield  had  the 
artery  of  his  arm  severed  by  the  fragment  of  a  shell, 
and  was  fast  bleeding  to  death.  A  physician  an- 
swered his  call,  came  to  him,  bound  up  his  arm 
and  saved  his  life.  As  the  surgeon  was  passing  on 
the  man  exclaimed : 

'*  Doctor,  what  is  your  name?  " 

**0h,  no  matter,"  said  the  physician. 

"But,  doctor,  I  want  to  tell  my  wife  and  chil- 
dren who  it  was  that  saved  me  !  " 

So  when  Christ  comes  to  us,  binding  up  our 
broken  hearts,  healing  our  wounded  spirits  and  sav- 
ing our  dying  souls,  is  it  any  wonder  that  there 
comes  to  us  at  once  a  longing  desire  to  tell  others 
what  he  has  done  for  us  and  to  show  our  gratitude 
by  an  open  acknowledgment  of  him  who  is  our 
Saviour  ?  ''  The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us." 
49 


Upward  Steps 

By  it  we  are  impelled  to  battle  against  sin.  A 
devoted  love  makes  it  easy  for  a  wife  to  be  true  to 
her  husband  or  a  husband  to  his  wife.  There  is  a 
wonderful  purifying  power  in  love.  Love  has 
mighty  transforming  influence. 

There  is  a  story  of  a  young  girl  whose  growth  in 
Christian  character  was  very  marked.  No  one 
seemed  to  understand  the  secret  of  it.  It  was  no- 
ticed by  a  very  intimate  friend  that  she  wore  a 
golden  locket  which  she  seemed  to  prize  very  highly. 
Once  this  friend  was  sitting  with  her  by  the  seaside, 
on  a  beautiful  summer  day,  and  they  were  in  most 
delightful  and  affectionate  conversation,  when  the 
friend  suddenly  turned  and  asked  if  she  might  look 
into  the  locket  she  had  always  kept  so  closely. 
Being  urged  the  girl  consented.  The  friend  opened 
it  to  find  within  these  words  :  ''  Whom  having  not 
seen  I  love."  Here  was  the  secret  of  her  beautiful 
life.  She  had  come  under  the  transforming  power 
of  the  love  of  Christ.  She  had  a  Friend.  There 
was  One  who  loved  her.  There  was  One  she  loved. 
Love  had  impelled  her  to  struggle  against  sin,  resist 
the  wrong  and  cultivate  all  that  was  pure  and  good, 
all  that  could  be  pleasing  to  her  unseen  Friend. 

By  love  we  are  led  also  to  make  sacrifices  for 
Christ.  Love  is  the  impelling  motive  back  of  all 
self-sacrifice  and  labor  for  him.  The  heart-enlisted 
Christian  does  not  give  up  sinful  indulgences  be- 
cause he  must,  but  because  he  loves  Christ  and  de- 
lights to  do  what  will  please  him.  The  love  of 
50 


Love  the  Master  Passion 

Christ  constraining,  he  is  glad  to  deny  himself  for 
Christ's  sake.  Self-sacrifice  becomes  actual  pleas- 
ure, and  work  for  Christ  highest  joy.  The  love- 
constrained  Christian  realizes  Christ's  desire  for 
souls,  and  therefore  tries  to  win  them  to  him.  He 
knows  Christ's  longing  for  the  extension  of  his 
kingdom,  and  he  therefore  gladly  gives  according  to 
his  ability  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel.  Christ's  in- 
terests become  his  interests,  Christ's  glory  his  glory, 
Christ's  cause  his  cause,  under  the  sweet  impelling 
constraint  of  love. 

The  lack  we  too  commonly  see  of  readiness  to 
confess  Christ,  of  holy  living,  of  sacrifice-making, 
and  of  soul-saving  effort  is  due  to  lack  of  love. 
Have  we  this  motive  ?  Is  love  for  Christ  the  master 
passion  with  us  ? 

This  pointy  out  a  remedy  for  all  our  slackness. 
To  bring  Christ's  love  before  our  minds,  to  press 
the  thought  of  its  exceeding  greatness  home  upon 
our  hearts,  this  we  should  do  in  order  to  quicken 
and  kindle  to  a  ruddy  glow  our  own  affections. 
Only  so  can  we  set  ourselves  forward  in  the  Chris- 
tian life  and  become  successful  in  Christ's  service. 

As  a  help  in  this  direction  let  us  also  bear  in 
mind  the  fact  that  highest  happiness  comes  in  heart- 
enlisted  service.  Duty  becomes  a  delight  when  the 
heart  is  in  it.  Love-constrained  service  is  a  glad 
and  joyous  service.  In  a  mother's  devotion  to  her 
child  she  scarcely  hears  the  stern  demand  of  duty. 
Her  warm  heart  beats  to  the  sweet  melodies  of  a 
51 


Upward  Steps 

quenchless  affection,  and  she  never  thinks  of  duty 
while  yet  she  is  discharging  it.  So  it  is  in  regard 
to  obedience  to  God  by  the  heart-enlisted.  They 
tell  us  that  in  the  oil  regions  there  are  many  wells 
which  must  be  laboriously  pumped  to  get  even  a  little 
oil  each  day.  But  there  are  other  wells  that  flow 
of  themselves.  So  there  are  some  people  Avho  have 
hard  work  forcing  themselves  to  do  duty,  to  serve 
Christ,  to  accomplish  his  will.  But  it  is  not  so  with 
those  who  are  constrained  by  love.  Duty  becomes 
a  delight  because  the  heart  is  enlisted.  Let  us  do 
all  we  can  to  bring  before  our  minds,  and  press 
upon  our  own  attention  the  fact  of  Christ's  love  in 
order  that  we  may  be  led  to  live  a  life  constrained 
by  that  love.  Christ's  love  is  certainly  a  sweet 
constraint ;  let  us  strive  increasingly  to  live  under 
its  delightful  sway. 


52 


V 

The  Life  More  Abundant 


The  Life  More  Abundant 


The  student  of  biology  becomes  acquainted  with 
a  large  number  of  organisms  that  manifest  only  a 
very  low  degree  of  vitality.  This  lack  of  vitality 
discovers  itself  by  the  limited  powers  of  motion, 
little  sensibility  to  pain  and  pleasure,  and  compara- 
tive absence  of  intelligence.  A  sponge,  a  jellyfish, 
a  mollusk,  has  life,  but  it  is  the  very  opposite  of 
life  abundantly.  This  same  distinction  applies  also 
in  human  life.  Men  and  women  differ  very  much 
in  the  amount  of  life  they  possess.  With  many 
who  are  sickly  and  delicate,  the  difficulty  is  nothing 
but  low  physical  vitality — little  life.  In  the  matter 
of  mental  life  the  same  difference  is  seen.  Of 
course,  in  many  cases  it  is  nothing  but  difference  in 
culture  or  education  ;  but  among  people  who  have 
enjoyed  equal  advantages  the  variations  of  mental 
life  are  sometimes  very  marked.  You  hear  persons 
spoken  of  as  slow  of  understanding,  cold  of  heart, 
feeble  of  will,  and  you  know  at  once  that  what  is 
meant  is  that  with  them  life  is  scanty.  On  the 
other  hand,  you  know  men  and  women  of  quick 
perception,  keen  wit,  warm  feelings,  filled  with 
energy  and  ardor,  and  you  say  that  these  are  the 
55 


Upward  Steps 

signs  of  abundant  life.  So  we  see  at  once  that  life 
is  a  matter  of  degrees.  Some  have  life,  but  it 
flickers  like  a  dying  candle.  Others  have  life  at 
its  full,  like  the  fire  on  the  blacksmith's  forge  when 
the  bellows  are  blown  at  full  blast.  Life  abounding, 
life  abundantly,  is  what  we  all  like  and  covet.  We 
want  to  live  while  we  live,  life  at  its  full,  life  at  its 
best,  life  abundantly. 

There  are  those  who  will  have  it  that  personal 
piety  narrows  the  soul  and  contracts  the  life.  They 
say  that  religion's  pleasures  are  few,  its  prohibitions 
innumerable  and  fixed,  with  nothing  to  do  but  to 
repeat  in  each  sensitive  ear  its  "  Thou  shalt,"  or 
''  Thou  shalt  not,"  with  the  discord  of  a  perpetual 
command.  Even  good  people  are  sometimes  mis- 
led into  the  thought  that  life  is  in  some  way  nar- 
rowed down  and  circumscribed  by  religion  ;  while 
many  who  are  not  Christians  are  deterred  from 
ever  becoming  such  by  this  same  misunderstand- 
ing. But  the  system  of  faith  and  practice  which 
Christ  came  to  proclaim  admits  of  no  such  morose- 
ness,  severity  or  gloomy  views;  but,  instead,  it 
proposes  to  bring  in  as  its  own  free  gift  a  new  and 
increased  experience  of  every  kind  that  renders  life 
valuable,  worthy  and  worth  living.  So  it  is  that 
when  we  urge  rehgion  upon  any  one  and  the 
spoken  or  unspoken  excuse  is,  '*  Oh,  but  I  want  to 
see  more  of  life  first,"  the  gospel,  as  if  anticipating 
the  objection,  or  rebuking  the  one  who  utters  it, 
answers,   '  *  Very  well,  but  you  are  making  a  great 

56 


The  Life  More  Abundant 

mistake,  for  the  Redeemer  came  that  you  might 
have  life,  and  that  you  might  have  it  yet  more 
abundantly."  In  other  words,  this  is  the  doctrine 
of  the  New  Testament,  that  the  devoted  Christian 
life  is  a  fuller  life,  a  freer  life,  a  brighter,  more 
welcome,  more  joyous,  more  abounding  life  than 
any  other  life  whatsoever.  Why,  some  people  live 
as  much  in  ten  years  as  others  would  in  fifty. 
Under  certain  conditions  life  is  wonderfully  en- 
riched. ''  Better  fifty  years  of  Europe  than  a  cycle 
of  Cathay."  Christ  gives  us  an  added  capacity 
for  life,  an  added  talent  for  life,  an  added  amount 
of  life ;  so  that  a  Christian  actually  lives  more  in 
the  same  length  of  time  than  one  who  is  not 
a  Christian.  Christ's  blessing  for  his  people  is  not 
that  they  may  have  simply  life,  but  that  they  may 
have  it  more  abundantly. 

But  just  here  an  honest  questioner  might  exclaim ; 
''  Yes,  this  sounds  well;  it  makes  the  Christian  life 
seem  very  desirable,  but  I  do  not  see  how  this  larger 
life  is  brought  about ;  how  is  it  done  ? ' '  We  an- 
swer ;  *'  In  no  way  more  markedly  than  by  enlarg- 
ing the  capacity  of  the  soul." 

Not  long  ago  we  made  the  acquaintance  of  a 
young  girl  who  is  nearsighted.  Until  she  was 
nearly  ten  years  of  age  neither  she  nor  her  parents 
realized  her  lack.  But  finding  that  she  had  diffi- 
culty in  studying  at  school  they  took  her  to  an  ocu- 
list who  furnished  her  with  suitable  glasses. 
When  she  put  them  on  and  looked  about  she  ex- 
57 


Upward  Steps 

claimed :  "  Why,  mamma,  I  can  see  the  grass,  that 
it  has  separate  blades,  and  the  trees,  that  they  have 
separate  leaves.  I  could  never  see  so  before,  for 
they  always  appeared  like  one  mass  of  green." 
We  know  the  secret.  She  could  see  more  and  she 
could  see  better  simply  because  her  capacity  for 
seeing  was  enlarged.  Just  so  it  is  with  religion 
in  the  soul;  it  enlarges  its  capacity.  Before,  the 
eyes  of  the  understanding  were  darkened,  and  there 
was  blindness  in  the  heart.  Now,  the  whole  being 
is  brought  ''out  of  darkness  into  God's  marvelous 
light."  There  are  beauties  the  unregenerate  heart 
can  never  see.  There  are  joys  it  can  never  know. 
"And  Elisha  prayed,  and  said.  Lord,  I  pray  thee, 
open  his  eyes,  that  he  may  see.  And  the  Lord 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  young  man ;  and  he  saw : 
and,  behold,  the  mountain  was  full  of  horses  and 
chariots  of  fire  round  about  Elisha."  Just  so  with 
us  is  the  opening  of  our  spiritual  vision  but  a 
superadded  capacity  to  see.  To  the  renewed  soul 
it  becomes  actually  true  that  the  whole  landscape 
of  life,  its  mountains  and  its  valleys  are  filled  with 
the  horses  and  chariots  of  God's  hitherto  unseen 
power  and  protecting  care  and  manifestations  of 
love.  In  innumerable  ways  the  Christian  has  the 
advantage  over  one  who  is  not  a  Christian.  His 
field  of  vision  is  wider  and  more  far-reaching, 
because  it  takes  in  things  spiritual  and  therefore 
eternal.  His  cup  of  bliss  is  not  only  fuller,  but  it 
holds  more.  While  others  may  have  real  earthly 
58 


The  Life  More  Abundant 

joys,  Christ's  follower  has  these  and  the  joys  of  the 
Christian  added.  Not  only  can  he  say,  '<  My  cup 
runneth  over,"  but  he  can  add,  '<  My  heart  hast 
thou  enlarged."  While  the  pint  cup  may  be  full, 
the  quart  cup  holds  more. 

There  is  another  fact  that  ought  to  be  noticed, 
namely :  that  the  Christian's  capacity  for  joy  is  one 
that  is  to  go  on  ever  increasing,  while  the  very  op- 
posite is  the  tendency  for  all  who  are  self-seeking 
and  worldly.  With  all  such  there  is  a  constant 
contraction  of  life  going  on  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end. 

It  is  said  that  one  of  the  tortures  of  the  tyrant 
kings  was  that  of  a  cell  which  at  the  prisoner's  first 
entrance  presented  an  air  of  comfort  and  ease,  so 
that  it  was  not  until  he  had  been  a  few  days  con- 
fined that  he  noticed  the  dimensions  of  his  chamber 
beginning  to  contract.  But  the  fact  became  more 
appalling  every  day.  Slowly  the  sides  drew  closer ; 
and  the  unhappy  victim  was  at  last  crushed  to 
death. 

The  selfish  and  worldly  life  is  nothing  less  than 
such  a  death  chamber.  Tyrant-like  it  imprisons, 
and  torture-like  it  crushes,  until  the  lines  of  a  slowly 
contracting  existence  destroy  the  soul  in  the  catas- 
trophe of  sin. 

Ordinarily  rivers  run  small  at  the  beginning, 
grow  broader  and  broader  as  they  proceed,  and  be- 
come widest  and  deepest  at  the  point  where  they 
enter  the"  sea.  It  is  just  such  a  river  the  Christian 
59 


Upward  Steps 

life  is  like.  The  life  of  the  worldly  is  like  those 
other  rivers,  in  Southern  Africa,  which,  proceeding 
from  mountain  freshets,  are  broad  and  deep  at  the 
beginning,  but  grow  narrower  and  more  shallow  as 
they  advance,  until  they  waste  themselves  away  by 
soaking  into  the  sands.  At  last  they  pass  from 
sight  entirely.  The  farther  they  run  the  less  there 
is  of  them.  But  the  very  opposite  of  this  is  the 
life  Christ  gives.  Let  us  not  forget  that  there  is  a 
capacity  for  full  and  abounding  life  which  every 
man  or  woman  must  lack  until  the  heart  is  yielded 
cordially  and  lovingly  to  God.  Only  then  does 
joy  abound  at  its  full.  *'I  am  come  that  they 
might  have  life,  and  that  they  might  have  it  more 
abundantly  j ' '  and  one  of  the  ways  he  gives  it  is  by 
increasing  the  capacity  of  the  soul.  Christ  came 
to  be  a  mighty  fountain  of  life  to  every  one  who 
will  receive  him. 


60 


VI 

Our  Divine  Friend 


Our  Divine  Friend 


"  Give  me  a  friend,"  says  one ;  *'  I  am  not  my- 
self till  I  have  a  friend."  Every  one  needs  a 
friend.  Christ  is  the  Friend  we  need.  We  need 
other  friends,  but  we  need  no  others  so  much  as  we 
need  him.  Some  we  would  have  as  our  friends  may 
be  indifferent  to  us.  Christ  is  never  indifferent  to 
any,  but  is  wiUing  to  be  the  friend  of  all,  even  the 
most  lowly. 

The  Lord  Christ  is  a  friend  for  every  one.  He 
calls  us  friends  without  regard  to  our  race  or  na- 
tionality, our  condition  of  wealth  or  of  poverty, 
our  learning  or  lack  of  learning,  without  regard  to 
the  religious  sect  or  social  set  to  which  we  belong, 
the  family  connections  or  social  acquaintances  we 
have  made,  or  the  peculiar  infirmities  of  tempera- 
ment and  temper  we  manifest.  Here  is  the  miracle 
of  miracles,  that  Christ  can  manifest  himself  the 
Friend  of  every  one.  Explain  this  miracle  and  we 
explain  the  most  wonderful  of  all  miracles.  Look 
out  on  broad  humanity  and  you  find  it  broken. 
It  is  broken  into  nationalities,  broken  into  tribes, 
broken  into  sets  of  every  sort.  It  is  further  broken 
into  circles  of  acquaintances,  into  families,  into  in- 
timacies of  two  or  more  within  families,  into  vary- 

63 


Upward  Steps 

ing  temperaments.  Nation  does  not  altogether 
coalesce  with  nation,  set  with  set,  family  with 
family.  But  here  is  the  wonder,  that  Jesus,  be- 
longing to  the  most  sectarian  of  nations,  spending 
his  youth  in  the  little  provincial  town  of  Nazareth, 
never  passing  outside  the  bounds  of  Palestine, 
trained  in  the  exclusive  Jewish  system,  should  yet 
possess  a  heart  so  grand  and  so  great  as  to  be  in 
fundamental  kinship  with  every  man  of  every  na- 
ture in  every  nation  the  broad  earth  over,  and  that 
all  these  various  souls  should  turn  to  him  and  find 
in  him  exact  adjustment  with  themselves, — this  is 
the  miracle  of  miracles  and  the  one  which  above  all 
others  pronounces  our  Saviour  divine.  It  is  the 
moral  miracle  of  friendship — of  divine  friendship, 
that  to  the  infinite  variety  of  human  hearts  the  one 
Christ  so  accurately  mates  himself  as  Friend. 
Every  one  needs  a  friend,  and  Christ  is  the  one 
Friend  every  one  needs. 

The  love  of  friends  is  an  active  passion,  and  de- 
lights in  rendering  service  and  bestowing  benefits. 
If  Christ  is  our  Friend  he  will  treat  us  accordingly, 
and  we  may  expect  from  him  whatever  the  most 
perfect  friendship  can  insure. 

For  one  thing,  he  will  honor  us  with  his  confi- 
dence. This  is  the  very  thing  he  mentions  in  a 
recorded  conversation  with  the  disciples.  '*  Hence- 
forth I  call  you  not  servants;  for  the  servant 
knoweth  not  what  his  Lord  doeth :  but  I  have 
called  you  friends ;  for  all  things  I  have  heard  of 

64 


Our  Divine  Friend 

my  Father  I  have  made  known  unto  you."  A 
servant  is  intrusted  not  with  secrets,  but  with 
orders.  But  <<  the  secret  of  the  Lord  is  with  them 
that  fear  him ;  and  he  will  show  them  his  covenant." 
The  unreserved  confidence  is  for  friends.  There 
is  nothing  concealed  between  them.  Abraham  was 
called  the  friend  of  God,  and  God  said,  **  Shall  I 
hide  from  Abraham  that  thing  which  I  do?" 
How  constantly  Christ  unbosomed  himself  to  his 
disciples,  saying,  "To  you  it  is  given  to  know 
the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  when  he 
was  alone  with  them  ''expounding  all  things  unto 
them,"  manifesting  himself  to  them  as  not  unto  the 
world.  So  Christ  is  now  ready  to  honor  us  with 
his  confidence,  take  us  into  this  intimacy  of  rela- 
tion and  to  tell  us  secrets  which  those  v/ho  will  not 
abide  "  in  the  secret  of  his  presence  "  cannot  hear. 
Have  we  sought  his  confidence,  admitted  him  to  our 
lives,  kept  our  hearts  open  toward  him  and  listened 
as  we  should  when  he  has  spoken  ? 

If  Christ  is  our  Friend  he  will  give  us  freedom  of 
access  to  himself.  Distance  and  ceremonies  may  be 
necessary  to  regulate  the  approach  of  others  ;  but 
they  are  all  laid  aside  for  a  friend.  The  heart,  the 
arms,  the  house  are  all  open  to  him.  And  does 
our  divine  Friend  desire  to  keep  us  at  a  distance  ? 
On  the  contrary  all  his  language  is  that  of  invita- 
tion— "  Come."  He  allows  us  to  "  come  even  to 
his  seat,"  to  enter  ''the  secret  of  his  pavilion," 
permits  us  to  tell  him  all,  even  to  our  most  minute 

65 


Upward  Steps 

affairs,  allows  us  to  live  in  his  house,  sit  at  his 
table,  walk  at  his  side,  lean  on  his  bosom.  Such 
honor  have  all  his  saints. 

But  we  may  well  question  ourselves :  Have  we 
accepted  his  invitations  ?  Have  we  availed  our- 
selves of  the  offered  privileges  ?  Have  we  shown 
ourselves  at  all  suitably  appreciative  of  all  his  many 
offered  opportunities  for  intimacy  ? 

If  Christ  is  our  Friend  he  will  counsel  us.  He 
is  the  "Counselor."  He  gives  us  the  benefit  of 
his  wisdom.  ''  The  meek  will  he  guide  in  judg- 
ment :  and  the  meek  will  he  teach  his  way."  The 
counsel  of  a  wise  and  true  friend,  how  good  it  is  ! 
We  are  encouraged  to  bring  to  him  all  our  plans, 
all  our  doubts,  all  our  fears.  Are  we  in  the  dark  ? 
He  will  be  to  us  light.  Have  we  doubts  ?  He 
will  be  the  dissolver  of  doubts.  Are  we  perplexed 
regarding  the  way  to  take  ?  He  will  be  our  guide. 
The  trouble  with  most  of  us  is  altogether  this,  that 
we  do  not  seek  his  counsel  as  we  should.  Were 
we  to  do  so,  he  would  lead  us  in  wisdom's  ways, 
which  are  pleasantness,  and  into  her  paths,  which 
are  peace. 

If  Christ  is  our  Friend  he  will  reprove  us.  Gentle 
reproof  is  one  of  the  proofs  and  privileges  of  a 
friend. 

"  Do  you  think  he  ne'er  reproves  me  ? 
What  a  false  friend  he  would  be, 
If  he  never,  never  told  me 

Of  the  sins  which  he  must  see." 
66 


Our  Divine  Friend 

"Faithful  are  the  wounds  of  a  friend."  ''Let 
the  righteous  smite  me;  it  shall  be  a  kindness." 
Our  divine  Friend  is  faithful  to  us,  and  so  he  re- 
proves when  we  go  wrong,  to  the  end  that  we 
may  learn  to  do  better.  ' '  As  many  as  I  love,  I 
rebuke  and  chasten."  With  both  counsel  and 
reproof  he  has  been  ready ;  but  have  we  been  always 
glad  to  hear  the  good  counsel  or  to  heed  the  faith- 
ful reproof? 

If  Christ  is  our  Friend  he  will  sympathize  with  us. 
There  is  no  true  friendship  unless  we  make  the 
pleasures  and  pains  of  the  chosen  ones  our  own, 
rejoicing  when  they  rejoice  and  weeping  when  they 
weep.  This  is  the  sort  of  a  friend  Christ  is  to  us. 
It  was  to  this  end  he  came  to  earth  and  assumed 
our  nature.  He  became  a  man  to  be  a  friend. 
He  became  a  man  in  order  that  he  might  be 
' '  tempted  in  all  points  like  as  we  are. ' '  He  became 
a  man  in  order  that  he  might  be  "touched  with  a 
feeling  of  our  infirmities."  "For  in  that  he  him- 
self hath  suffered  being  tempted,  he  is  able  to 
succor  them  that  are  tempted."  In  all  our  afflic- 
tions he  is  afflicted.  There  is  nothing  concerns  us 
that  does  not  concern  him.  He  sympathizes  with 
us  in  all  the  events  of  our  human  existence.  Do 
we  permit  him  to  enter  into  them  all  with  us  as  we 
might  ?  If  we  lack  consciousness  of  his  sympathy 
in  either  joy  or  sorrow,  it  is  not  his  fault  but  ours. 

If  Christ  is  our  Friend  he  will  afford  us  assistance 
and  succor.     He  will  not  stand  by  and  see  us  need. 

67 


Upward  Steps 

'*  A  friend  loveth  at  all  times,  and  a  brother  is  born 
for  adversity."  He  is  a  very  present  help  in  every 
time  of  need.  We  might  have  friends  who  in  a 
time  of  need  would  love  us  and  sympathize  with  us, 
but  sorrowfully  find  themselves  without  power  to  aid 
us.  But  not  so  with  Christ  as  our  Friend.  ''  Noth- 
ing is  too  hard  for  the  Lord."  He  is  both  able  and 
willing  to  give  us  aid,  and  prove  himself  the  very 
friend  we  need.  And  this  he  will  do  all  our  life 
through  and  in  death  will  not  forsake  us.  "I  have 
called  you  friends."  Meaningful  message  !  En- 
dearing title  !  To  us  what  a  blessed  privilege  thus 
to  be  called  by  Christ ! 

If  Christ  is  our  Friend  and  we  profess  to  be  his, 
what  has  he  therefore  a  right  to  expect  from  us? 
How  will  our  love  for  Christ  make  itself  manifest  ? 
There  are  self-tests  we  may  wisely  apply  in  seeking 
to  know  our  real  relationship  toward  Christ. 

If  we  love  Christ  we  will  love  to  think  about  him. 
It  is  a  characteristic  of  love  that  it  delights  to  dwell 
in  thought  upon  the  object  of  its  regard.  If  love  to 
Christ  is  true  it  will  be  carried  about  continually  in 
the  Christian's  mind  and  heart,  an  ever-present 
reality.  There  is  an  old  story  that  when  a  surgeon 
was  probing  the  breast  of  one  of  Napoleon's  sol- 
diers to  extract  a  bullet,  the  wounded  man  sighed 
as  he  felt  the  thrust :  "A  little  deeper  and  you  will 
find  the  emperor  !  "  Do  we  love  Christ  like  that? 
so  that  he  may  be  found  there  always,  in  the  heart  ? 
It  is  a  good  test  of  our  friendship  toward  him  for 
68 


Our  Divine  Friend 

us  to  put  to  ourselves  this  question  as  to  just  how 
much  we  keep  him  in  mind  and  dwell  upon  him  in 
thought. 

If  we  love  Christ  we  will  delight  to  hear  about 
him.  We  always  like  to  hear  about  those  we  love. 
'*  How  sweet  the  name  of  Jesus  sounds  in  a  be- 
liever's ear  !  "  Is  your  friendship  such  as  to  make 
his  name  sound  sweet  to  your  ear  ?  Do  you  find 
joy  in  hearing  him  spoken  of,  the  beauties  of  his 
character  mentioned,  his  gracious  words  repeated, 
and  his  loving  works  and  ways  recalled  ?  Such 
is  the  way  one  true  friend  feels  in  hearing  about 
another. 

If  you  love  Christ  you  will  love  his  friends.  This 
is  a  well-known  trait  of  all  true  love.  We  love  our 
friends*  friends.  It  will  be  one  of  the  best  proofs 
of  the  sincerity  of  our  friendship  toward  Christ  if 
we  love  air  those  he  loves.  "This  is  my  com- 
mandment, That  ye  love  one  another.  So  shall  ye 
be  my  disciples." 

If  we  love  Christ  we  will  be  careful  of  his  good 
name  and  honor.  As  a  true  friend  we  will  care- 
fully guard  both  him  and  his  cause  from  any  stigma 
or  dishonor,  and  especially  from  any  that  might  re- 
sult from  the  least  lack  of  loyalty  or  faithfulness  on 
our  part.  We  will  also  take  his  part  against  any 
who  would  strive  to  take  away  from  the  honor  of 
his  names,  titles,  attributes,  ordinances,  word,  or 
works. 

If  we  love  him  we  will  love  to  be  with  him.    It  is 

69 


Upward  Steps 

this  love  that  leads  Christ's  friends  to  go  to  places 
where  he  is  especially  sure  to  be  found,  places 
where  he  promises  to  meet  them.  The  hour  of 
prayer,  the  place  of  prayer,  the  house  of  prayer, 
and  all  the  ordinances  of  religion  are  as  sweet  as 
when  a  lover  tarries  with  the  loved  one,  all  because 
they  carry  us  into  the  very  presence  of  Christ,  our 
Friend.  This  also  is  the  reason  why  Christians 
look  forward  with  so  much  delight  toward  their 
residence  in  heaven.  "  They  shall  see  his  face." 
*'  God  himself  shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their 
God."  **We  shall  be  like  him,  for  we  shall  see 
him  as  he  is." 

Let  us  test  ourselves.  Let  us  strive  to  know  the 
real  quahty  of  our  friendship.  Christ  was  the 
friend  of  Peter  and  John  and  James,  of  Martha  and 
Mary  and  Lazarus,  in  Palestine  long  ago.  They 
knew  him,  walked  with  him,  talked  with  him,  and 
found  highest  delight  in  him  then.  Why  may  not  I, 
by  faith,  do  the  same  now  ?  There  are  those  who 
do.  They  walk  with  him,  talk  with  him,  and 
*' practice  his  presence"  every  day.  They  meet 
him  every  morning  when  they  awake ;  he  is  with 
them  in  the  street  and  at  their  work ;  they  tell  to 
him  their  secrets  and  appeal  to  him  in  every  time 
of  need;  they  know  him  better  than  any  other 
friend.  I  need  such  a  friend,  and  I  know  that  he 
is  willing  to  be  such  to  me.  I  resolve  to  accept 
his  love  anew,  to  cherish  it  afresh,  to  value  it  more, 
to  grieve  it  less,  and  to  strive  to  live  under  the 
70 


Our  Divine  Friend 

consciousness  of  it  and  its  transforming  influence 
every  day. 

"0  Holy  Saviour!  Friend  unseen, 
Since  on  thine  arm  thou  bid'st  me  lean, 
Help  me  throughout  life's  changing  scene, 
By  faith  to  cling  to  thee !  " 


71 


VII 

In    His    Footprints 


In  His  Footprints 


John  Bunyan,  in  The  Pilgrim's  Progress,  puts, 
into  the  mouth  of  Mr.  Standfast  these  beautiful 
words  :  *'  I  have  loved  to  hear  my  Lord  spoken  of, 
and  wherever  I  have  seen  the  print  of  his  shoes  in 
the  earth,  there  I  have  coveted  to  set  my  foot." 
Applied  to  the  question  as  to  how  a  Christian 
should  walk  these  words  accord  exactly  with  the 
matured  judgment  of  the  apostle  John,  for  in  one 
of  the  last,  if  not  the  very  last,  of  his  writings  he 
says:  "He  that  saith  he  abideth  in  him  ought 
himself  also  to' walk,  even  as  he  walked." 

How  did  Christ  walk  ?  Well  we  know  that  he 
walked  holily.  "  Who  did  no  sin,  neither  was  guile 
found  in  his  mouth."  He  never  walked  in  any 
wrong  path,  and  therefore  those  who  put  their  feet 
in  his  steps  are  sure  to  go  right.  It  is  a  good  test 
for  us  to  put  always  to  ourselves,  if  we  doubt  as  to 
any  course  of  action,  "What  would  Jesus  do  ?  " 
A  close  study  of  his  life  is  the  very  best  guide  to  a 
holy  walk.  There  is  no  possible  perplexity  in 
which  we  may  not  find  a  solution  by  studying  the 
life  of  Christ  upon  earth. 

It  is  said  that  the  disciples  of  Plato  carried  their 
75 


Upward  Steps 

imitation  of  their  master  to  such  a  length  that  their 
very  gait  was  like  his.  Of  a  great  minister  of  a 
generation  ago,  in  one  of  our  leading  denomina- 
tions, it  was  said  that  "the  young  preachers  in  his 
district  carried  their  heads  on  one  side,  to  be  like 
Dr.  Bangs."  When  we  copy  a  model  we  are  more 
apt  to  follow  its  defects  than  its  excellences ;  but  fol- 
lowing Christ  we  are  sure  of  a  perfect  pattern. 
Even  Paul  found  it  needful  to  warn  people  to  follow 
him  only  as  he  followed  Christ.  Let  us  try  to  solve 
all  our  difficulties  as  to  duty  by  asking  ourselves 
what  Christ  would  do  if  he  were  in  our  place,  or 
whether  we  could  take  him  with  us  into  the  things 
we  wish  to  do. 

William  Wye  Smith  gives  a  striking  illustration 
which  may  fix  this  thought  more  firmly  in  mind. 
"  I  once  spoke  to  an  old  farmer,"  said  he,  "about 
his  drinking — a  man  who  was  pious  on  Sunday, 
and  who  would  have  been  vexed  to  be  considered 
anything  else  than  a  Christian.  He  said  he  had  a 
long  distance  to  haul  his  crop  of  wheat  for  sale  in 
winter,  and  found  it  absolutely  necessary  to  call  at 
a  half-way  tavern  and  drink  something.  I  said  to 
him  that  Christ  went  about  from  place  to  place 
preaching,  when  he  was  upon  earth,  and  was  very 
kind  and  familiar,  and  talked  to  people  on  the  way. 
Now,  if  he  should  overtake  Jesus  on  the  road,  and 
he  was  going  to  the  same  market  town,  what  would 
he  do  with  him  ?  Why,  he  would  ask  him  to  ride, 
and  give  him  a  good  seat  on  his  sleigh,  on  his  bags 

76 


In  His  Footprints 

of  wheat.  But  what  would  he  do  when  he  came  to 
his  half-way  house  ?  Would  he  leave  Jesus  sitting 
on  the  load  of  wheat  in  the  wintry  wind,  while  he 
himself  went  into  the  barroom  for  his  whiskey  ?  or 
would  he  take  him  into  the  bar  with  him  ?  He  in- 
terrupted me  at  this  point,  and  said  he  <  didn't 
think  it  was  right  to  talk  about  our  Lord  in  that 
way.'  But  he  would  not  answer  my  question. 
Dear  fellow-disciples,  we  need  to  find  Christ's 
tracks  every  day  in  the  week.  We  want  to  have 
him  with  us  everywhere  and  at  all  times.  And  if 
it  would  degrade  Christ  to  be  with  us  and  to  do  as 
we  do,  then  we  are  degrading  ourselves  by  going 
where  Christ  would  not  go  and  doing  what  Christ 
would  not  do.  Now  that  is  one  very  good  way  of 
finding  '  the  prints  of  Christ's  shoes  in  the  earth.' 
And  the  habit  of  thinking,  '  What  would  Christ  do 
if  he  were  in  my  place  ? '  or  *  What  would  Christ 
say  if  he  were  here  ?  ' — this  habit  will  soon  become 
so  strong  and  fixed  that  even  in  dangers  and  diffi- 
culties suddenly  arising,  the  mind  will  decide  at 
once  :  *  If  Christ  were  in  my  place  he  would  do  so 
and  so '  ;  or,  '  If  Christ  were  here  he  would  speak 
thus.'  " 

Christ's  was  also  an  humble  w^alk.  We  are  not 
walking  as  he  walked  if  we  ever  indulge  in  a  proud 
or  haughty  spirit  or  think  of  ourselves  more  highly 
than  we  ought  to  think.  ''  Let  this  mind  be  in  you, 
which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus  :  who,  being  in  the 
form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal 
77 


Upward  Steps 

with  God  :  but  made  himself  of  no  reputation,  and 
took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  servant,  and  was 
made  in  the  likeness  of  men :  and  being  found  in 
fashion  as  a  man,  he  humbled  himself,  and  became 
obedient  unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross." 

Again,  let  us  not  forget  that  Christ's  walk  was  a 
serviceable  walk.  <' He  went  about  doing  good." 
He  came  *'  not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  min- 
ister." He  even  ''gave  his  life  a  ransom  for 
many."  It  will  not  be  walking  in  his  steps  unless 
we  make  our  lives  serviceable  lives.  ''  Ye  are  the 
light  of  the  world."  Ye  are  leaven.  Ye  are  salt. 
Then  let  your  light  shine.  Let  the  truth  you  have 
pass  on  to  permeate  other  souls.  Let  your  saving 
qualities  come  in  contact  with  those  needing  their 
application.  Be  a  personal,  individual  worker.  Do 
not  copy  others,  but  ask  the  Lord  what  he  would 
have  done  by  you.  Say,  ''Lord  what  will  thou 
have  me  to  do  ?  "  Do  not  depend  on  committees 
or  societies,  however  good,  but  work  as  if  all  de- 
pended on  individuals.  You  will  have  to  give  to 
God  a  personal  account.  See  that  you  have  a  per- 
sonal work  to  show  and  a  personal  reward  to  re- 
ceive. Walk  as  Christ  walked  in  the  way  of  per- 
sonal and  loving  service. 

Do  not  fail  to  recognize  the  fact  also  that  his 
was  a  walk  of  close  fellowship  and  communion  with 
his  Father.  If  we  would  walk  as  he  walked  we 
must  "practice  the  presence  of  God."  He  spent 
much  time  apart  from  the  hurried  throngs  in  prayer 

78 


In  His  Footprints 

and  deep  communings  with  God.  So  should  we 
do.  If  we  would  walk  as  Christ  walked  we  must 
take  time  to  think  of  God,  to  realize  his  presence,  to 
commune  with  him.  We  must  take  time  to  listen 
to  God.  He  is  not  a  silent  Father,  but  speaks  to 
us.  If  we  would  practice  his  presence  we  must 
listen  to  him  when  he  speaks.  We  must  be  atten- 
tive to  his  counsels,  heed  his  commands,  answer 
his  invitations,  enter  into  sympathy  with  him  and 
his  plans.  We  must  speak  to  him,  express  our  love, 
bring  our  desires,  tell  our  gratitude  for  his  gifts,  and 
be  in  close  touch  with  him  and  his  thoughts. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  there  is  but  one  perfect  life, 
and  that  is  the  life  of  Jesus  Christ.  Let  us  strive 
continually  to  walk  as  he  walked.  All  other  good 
lives  are  but  imperfect  imitations  of  this  perfect  one. 

A  young  woman  with  some  ambition  as  a  painter 
submitted  specimens  of  her  skill  to  a  successful 
artist.  ''Don't  copy  copies,"  said  he.  ''You 
have  copied  this  landscape  from  a  picture  that  was 
itself  an  imperfect  copy,  with  the  result  that  all  its 
errors  are  reproduced  and  magnified.  Go  out  into 
nature  and  paint  directly  from  your  own  landscape. 
Or,  if  you  must  copy,  copy  a  masterpiece.  Any- 
thing else  is  not  worth  while."  So,  in  attempting 
to  live  right,  men  and  women  will  do  well  to  look 
above  human  examples  and  strive  to  copy  the  great 
Masterpiece,  Jesus  himself.  He  is  the  perfect 
model.  Copy  him.  Walk  as  he  walked.  Put 
your  feet  in  the  marks  of  his  footprints. 
79 


VIII 

The    Discipline  of  Difficulties 


The  Discipline  of  Difficulties 


No  man  ever  worked  his  way  spiritually  in  a  dead 
calm.  We  all  need  some  retarding  winds  to  help 
us  forward,  some  testing  times  to  put  force  and  fiber 
into  our  souls.  Take  it,  for  instance,  in  the  matter 
of  temptation.  Do  you  ever  think  of  your  tempta- 
tions as  blessings  ?  And  yet  they  are.  At  least 
they  may  become  blessings.  It  is  an  inspired 
apostle  who  writes:  ''Count  it  all  joy  when  ye 
fall  into  divers  temptations."  Do  you  count  it 
so?  Again:  ''Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth 
temptation.".  Do  you  esteem  temptations  as  a 
part  of  your  blessedness  ?  And  yet  what  kind 
of  a  moral  invertebrate  would  you  be  without  temp- 
tations? Men  talk  about  the  mystery  of  God's 
ever  having  permitted  evil  to  enter  the  world.  It 
is  a  mystery.  And  yet  may  not  its  presence  re- 
sult in  blessing,  after  all  ?  Valueless  is  the  char- 
acter that  knows  no  testing,  and  insipid  is  the  hap- 
piness that  has  in  it  nothing  of  the  joy  of  over- 
coming. The  question  in  life  is  not  so  much  how 
to  escape  temptation  as  how  to  pass  through  it  so  as 
not  to  be  harmed  by  it.  There  is  even  a  way  of  so 
meeting  temptations  as  really  to  get  benefit  and 
blessing  from  them.     Rightly  meeting  and  victo- 

83 


Upward   Steps 

riously  resisting  ever  puts  new  fiber  into  the  soul. 
The  Indians  have  a  saying  that  when  a  warrior 
slays  a  foe  the  spirit  of  the  vanquished  enemy 
enters  the  victor's  heart  and  adds  new  strength  for 
every  coming  contest.  This  becomes  a  literal  fact 
in  the  spiritual  warfare.  We  grow  stronger  through 
our  struggles  and  our  victories.  Every  time  we 
overcome  a  temptation  we  are  made  stronger  to 
overcome  the  next  one,  and  then  the  next,  and  so 
on.  "My  brethren,  count  it  all  joy  when  ye  fall 
into  divers  temptations  ;  knowing  this,  that  the  try- 
ing of  your  faith  worketh  patience."  "Blessed  is 
the  man  that  endureth  temptation  :  for  when  he  is 
tried,  he  shall  receive  the  crown  of  life,  which  the 
Lord  hath  promised  to  them  that  love  him."  Thus 
we  see  the  discipline  there  is  in  difficulties,  the  help 
there  is  in  hindrances,  the  strength  there  is  in 
things  that  take  our  strength. 

The  same  principle  holds  good  in  regard  to  all 
the  responsibilities  we  must  bear.  We  learn  to 
walk  by  walking  ;  we  learn  to  write  by  writing  ;  we 
learn  to  work  by  working,  and  we  learn  to  bear  re- 
sponsibilities by  bearing  responsibility.  No  devout 
Christian  worker  ever  began  any  service  for  God 
feeling  strong  and  self-reliant  and  self-sufficient. 
He  always  faces  the  effort  in  conscious  weakness 
and  fear  and  much  trembling.  But  it  is  as  he  goes 
on  to  do  his  duty  that  God's  grace  and  cheer  come 
to  him,  and  he  becomes  strong  and  capable  and 
successful  as  a  worker. 

84 


The  Discipline  of  Difficulties 

Trial  and  affliction  work  their  good  results  in  the 
same  way.  Many  of  the  sweetest  joys  of  Christian 
hearts  are  songs  which  they  have  learned  in  the 
bitterness  of  trial.  A  story  is  told  of  a  little  bird 
that  would  never  learn  to  sing  the  song  the  master 
would  have  him  sing  while  his  cage  was  full  of 
light.  There  was  so  much  to  take  his  attention. 
He  would  listen  to  the  many  voices.  He  would 
learn  a  snatch  of  one  song,  a  trill  of  another,  a 
polyglot  of  all  the  songs  in  the  grove,  but  never  a 
separate  and  entire  melody  of  his  own.  But  the 
master  at  last  covered  the  cage  he  was  in,  and  made  it 
dark  all  about  him,  and  then  he  listened  and  listened 
to  the  one  song  he  was  to  sing,  and  tried  and  tried, 
and  tried  again,  until  at  last  his  heart  was  full  of  it. 
Then,  when  he  had  caught  the  melody,  his  cage  was 
uncovered,  and  he  went  on  singing  it  sweetly  ever 
after  in  the  light.  It  is  often  with  our  hearts  as 
with  that  bird. 

"She  sings  well,"  said  a  great  musician  of  a 
promising,  but  emotionless  vocalist,  *'  but  she  wants 
something,  and  in  that  something  everything.  If  I 
were  single  I  would  court  her ;  I  would  marry  her ; 
I  would  break  her  heart ;  and  in  six  months  she 
would  be  the  greatest  singer  in  Europe."  The  re- 
mark was  a  detestable  one,  but  the  thing  the  man 
meant  is  true.  On  the  other  hand,  God  is  our 
heavenly  Father;  he  loves  us  with  a  Father's  love, 
strong  and  tender,  and  he  has  the  same  right  to 
educate  us  that  any  earthly  father  has  to  send  his 

85 


Upward   Steps 

children  to  school ;  and  none  of  us  could  estimate 
how  much  our  lives  might  lack  in  the  qualities 
of  sweetness  and  sympathy  and  power  to  bless, 
were  it  not  for  the  discipline  of  difficulty  God  sends. 

"  The  good  are  better  made  by  ill, 
As  odors  crushed  are  sweeter  still." 

'•  Now,  no  chastening  for  the  present  seemeth  to 
be  joyous,  but  grievous:  nevertheless  afterward" 
— we  all  need  to  have  regard  to  the  afterward  of 
trial — ''afterward  it  yieldeth  the  peaceable  fruit  of 
righteousness  unto  them  which  are  exercised 
thereby."  Like  the  photographer  with  his  picture, 
God  brings  out  in  many  a  life  its  loveliest  beauties 
while  the  curtain  is  drawn  and  the  light  of  day  shut 
out.  The  darkness  does  not  tell  of  displeasure; 
it  is  only  the  shadow  of  the  wing  of  divine  love 
folded  down  over  us  for  a  little,  while  the  Master 
adds  some  new  touch  of  loveliness  to  the  picture 
he  is  bringing  out  in  our  soul. 

This  is  a  lesson  we  all  need  to  learn  from  the 
disciplines  of  life.  They  are  intended  not  to 
hinder,  but  to  help  us  ;  not  to  cast  us  down,  but  to 
lift  us  up.  "I  never  saw  until  I  was  blind,"  ex- 
claimed a  man  who  had  neglected  spiritual  things 
until  this  affliction  came  upon  him.  Many  a  man 
never  found  himself  until  he  lost  his  all.  Adver- 
sity stripped  him  only  to  discover  him.  He  was 
impoverished  only  to  be  made  rich.  Many  a  man 
has  been  ruined  into  salvation.  The  lightning 
86 


The  Discipline  of  Difficulties 

which  smote  his  dearest  hopes  opened  up  a  new 
rift  in  his  dark  life,  revealing  in  his  nature  possi- 
bilities of  patience  and  endurance  and  hope  and  trust 
he  had  never  dreamed  before  that  he  possessed.  It 
is  a  solemn  prayer,  and  yet  one  we  should  be  ready 
to  offer, 

"  Nearer,  my  God,  to  thee. 
Nearer  to  thee ! 
E'en  though  it  be  a  cross 
That  raiseth  me." 

It  is  in  this  cheerful  way  we  ought  to  regard  all 
the  duties  and  difficulties  and  responsibihties  God 
in  his  wise  providence  puts  upon  us.  They  are  in- 
tended as  helps,  not  hindrances ;  not  to  weaken 
but  to  strengthen.  The  very  things  we  think  would 
hold  us  down  are  the  things  that  lift  us  up ;  just  as 
a  kite  flies  up  because  the  string  holds  it  down. 

The  whole  thought  may  be  emphasized  in  a 
brief  but  suggestive  parable.  It  is  about  the 
wingless  birds.  There  is  a  myth  about  the  birds, 
that  when  they  were  first  created  they  had  no 
wings.  The  story  is  that  God  made  the  wings,  put 
them  down  before  the  birds,  and  said:  *<Now, 
come,  take  these  burdens  up  and  bear  them."  The 
birds  had  beautiful  plumage  and  voices.  They 
could  sing  and  shine,  but  they  could  not  soar. 
But  at  the  word  of  their  Maker,  they  took  up  the 
wings  with  their  beaks  and  laid  them  upon  their 
shoulders  to  carry  them.     At  first  they  seemed  to  be  a 

87 


Upward  Steps 

heavy  load  and  rather  difficult  to  bear.  But  as 
they  cheerfully  and  patiently  bore  them,  and  folded 
them  close  over  their  hearts,  lo  !  the  wings  grew 
fast,  and  that  which  they  once  bore  now  bore  them. 
The  burdens  became  pinions,  and  the  weights  be- 
came wings. 

Fellow-Christians,  we  are  the  wingless  birds. 
Our  duties  are  the  pinions.  When  at  first  we  as- 
sume them  they  do  seem  to  be  heavy  loads.  But, 
glad  and  happy  fact !  as  we  cheerfully  bear  them  on, 
as  we  obediently  take  up  the  tasks  God  gives,  as 
we  meet  the  difficulties,  as  we  do  the  duties,  the 
burdens  change  to  pinions,  the  weights  become 
wings  and  lift  us  heavenward.  Let  us,  then,  with 
the  apostle,  "glory  in  tribulations  also :  knowing 
that  tribulation  worketh  patience;  and  patience, 
experience ;  and  experience,  hope :  and  hope 
maketh  not  ashamed ;  because  the  love  of  God  is 
shed  abroad  in  our  hearts."  Thank  God  for  your 
testings.  Thank  God  for  the  difficulties  that  de- 
velop your  strength.  Thank  God  for  all  his  dis- 
ciplinary dealings  ;  for  he  makes  each  hindrance  a 
help  and  every  retarding  weight  a  wing  to  lift  us 
toward  himself. 


88 


IX 

Grace  Abounding 


Grace  Abounding 


The  story  is  told  of  a  woman  who  worked  many 
years  between  the  confining  walls  of  a  cotton 
factory  in  one  of  the  great  manufacturing  towns  of 
England,  and  who,  in  a  railway  excursion,  went 
for  the  first  time  to  the  coast.  When  she  caught 
the  earliest  glimpse  of  the  Irish  Sea,  the  expanse 
lying  out  before  her  eyes  looking  like  the  limitlessness 
of  the  ocean  in  its  rush  and  roll  of  billows,  she  ex- 
claimed as  she  drew  one  boundless  breath  of  fresh- 
ness and  glory;  ''At  last,  here  comes  something 
there  is  enough  of!"  It  is  some  such  boundless 
benediction  as  the  ocean  and  the  air  that  grace  is 
in  its  never  failing  plenty. 

Let  us  think  of  Christ's  inexhaustible  fullness. 
"Of  his  fullness  have  all  we  received."  Some 
one  has  said:  ''I  have  found  it  an  interesting 
thing  to  stand  on  the  edge  of  a  noble  rolling  river, 
and  to  think  that  although  it  has  been  flowing  on 
for  six  thousand  years,  watering  the  fields  and 
slaking  the  thirst  of  a  hundred  generations  it  shows 
no  signs  of  waste  or  want  j  and  when  I  have 
watched  the  rise  of  the  sun  as  he  shot  above  the 
crest  of  the  mountain,  or  in  a  sky  draped  with 
91 


Upward  Steps 

golden  curtains  sprang  up  from  his  ocean  bed,  I 
have  wondered  to  think  that  he  has  melted  the 
snows  of  so  many  winters,  and  renewed  the  verdure 
of  so  many  springs,  and  painted  the  flowers  of  so 
many  summers,  and  ripened  the  golden  harvests  of 
so  many  autumns,  and  yet  shines  as  brilliant  as 
ever,  his  eye  not  dim,  nor  his  natural  strength 
abated,  nor  his  floods  of  light  less  full  of  centuries  of 
boundless  profusion.  Yet  what  are  these  but  images 
of  the  fullness  that  is  in  Christ  ?  ' '  The  fullness  of 
Christ  is  the  treasury  of  his  saints.  He  is  the 
fountain  of  life  and  light,  the  creator  and  preserver 
of  all,  the  author  of  human  redemption  and  the 
dispenser  of  an  abundant  salvation  with  all  its  un- 
numbered benefits.  "  In  him  all  fullness  dwells." 
He  is  ''  full  of  grace  and  truth." 

Let  us  think,  too,  of  our  great  need  of  grace. 
How  utterly  destitute  and  empty  of  spiritual  good 
we  all  are  !  This  abundance  in  Christ  is  exactly 
suited  and  intended  to  meet  our  need — to  supply 
our  deficiency,  to  relieve  our  poverty,  to  satisfy  our 
hunger  and  thirst. 

Our  need  grows  out  of  the  state  we  are  in  by 
nature.  We  are  born  in  sin,  with  a  disposition 
that  turns  away  from  God  and  godliness.  We  need 
his  regenerating  grace  to  change  our  hearts  and 
turn  us  about  in  our  tracks,  facing  God  ward. 

Our  need  grows  out  of  a  too  frequent  and  willful 
refusal  of  the  good.  We  choose  to  be  spiritually 
poor.  It  is  sometimes  necessary  for  God  to  press 
92 


Grace    Abounding 

his  blessings  upon  us.  So  gracious  is  he  that  in 
spite  of  our  willfuhiess  he  often  pours  out  of  his 
abounding  fulhiess  until  verily  our  ''cup  runneth 
over." 

Our  need  too  frequently  grows  out  of  the  fact 
that  we  have  allowed  the  avenues  of  grace  to  be- 
come choked  or  broken.  Grace  can  be  obstructed. 
When  our  spiritual  supplies  fail  the  channel  is 
sometimes  at  fault,  and  not  the  stream.  The 
hindrance  to  their  coming  lies  with  us,  not  with 
our  heavenly  Benefactor.  The  supply  of  fuel  for  a 
great  city  may  sometimes  fail,  not  because  the  coal 
fields  are  exhausted,  but  because  the  weather  has 
frozen  up  the  rivers  or  blocked  up  the  railways. 
The  supply  of  water  or  gas  to  our  houses  is  some- 
times insufficient,  not  because  the  reservoirs  are 
low,  but  because  the  pipes  which  connect  our 
dwellings  with  the  main  service  are  choked  up  or 
broken.  News  fails  to  reach  us,  not  because  our 
correspondent  has  neglected  to  write,  but  because 
the  means  of  transmission  have  been  imperfect. 
Grace  has  its  channels.  For  one  blessing  it  may 
be  the  channel  of  prayer,  for  another  it  may  be 
that  of  our  placing  ourselves  in  the  position  where 
the  shower  is  sure  to  fall.  We  fail  to  keep  in 
position.     We  fail  to  keep  the  channel  clear. 

While  there  is  this  danger  of  obstructing  the 

channels  of  grace,  yet  it  is  a  fact  that  in  spite  of  all 

our  follies  or  failures  Christ  thinks  of  our  lack  and 

so  out  of  his  fullness  gives  to  meet  our  need.      "  Of 

93 


Upward  Steps 

his  fullness  have  all  we  received,  and  grace  for 
grace." 

In  early  life  the  writer  was  a  clerk  in  a  hardware 
store,  and  one  of  his  duties  was  to  look  over  the 
stock  and  write  in  what  was  called  the  ''Want 
Book  "  a  list  of  all  the  things  needed.  How  com- 
forting it  is  to  us  to  know  that  our  Master  has  a 
supply  book  which  exactly  meets  our  want  book  ! 
Promises,  providences,  divine  visitations,  abundance 
of  grace  to  meet  our  every  necessity  ! 

We  need  grace  to  receive  grace.  An  English 
duchess  was  visiting  a  friend  in  Scotland.  While 
there  a  peddler  came  to  the  house  and  laying  down 
his  pack  asked  for  a  drink  of  water.  The  woman 
of  the  house  brought  a  drink,  and  as  she  handed  it 
to  him  asked  the  gentle  question  :  "Do  you  know 
anything  of  the  water  of  life  ?  ' '  The  peddler  re- 
plied :  "By  the  grace  of  God  I  do."  He  drank 
the  water,  and  then  offered  to  pray  with  them.  This 
was  his  prayer:  "Oh,  Lord,  give  us  grace  to  feel 
our  need  of  grace.  Oh,  Lord,  give  us  grace  to  re- 
ceive grace.  Oh,  Lord,  give  us  grace  to  ask  for 
grace.  Oh,  Lord,  give  us  grace  to  use  grace  when 
grace  is  given."  He  then  took  up  his  pack  and 
went  his  way  having  preached  a  powerful  sermon 
in  those  few  words, — a  sermon  it  would  be  well  if 
we  all  should  hear  and  heed. 

Grace  comes  like  the  waves  of  the  sea.  When 
one  blessing  comes  there  is  another  close  behind  it. 
There  is  a  story  of  Rowland  Hill,  which  we  have 
94 


Grace    Abounding 

no  doubt  is  true,  because  it  is  so  characteristic  of 
the  man's  eccentricity  and  generosity,  which  will 
illustrate  this  abounding  flow  of  God's  grace. 
Some  one  had  given  the  great  preacher  a  hundred 
pounds  to  send  to  an  extremely  poor  minister.  But, 
thinking  it  was  too  much  to  send  him  all  at  once, 
he  sent  him  five  pounds  in  a  letter,  with  simply 
these  words  inside  the  envelope,  ''  More  to  follow." 
In  a  few  days'  time  the  good  man  had  another  letter 
by  the  post ;  and  letters  by  the  post  were  rarities  in 
those  days.  When  he  opened  it  there  were  five 
pounds  again,  with  just  these  words,  ''And  more  to 
follow."  A  few  days  after  there  came  another,  and 
still  the  same  words,  ''  And  more  to  follow."  And 
so  it  continued  until  the  twentieth  time,  the  good 
man  being  more  and  more  astonished  at  the  letters, 
coming  always  by  post  and  with  the  same  sentence, 
"And  more  to  follow."  Now  every  blessing  that 
comes  from  God  is  sent  in  just  such  an  envelope 
and  with  the  selfsame  message,  "  And  more  to  fol- 
low." "I  forgive  your  sins,  but  there's  more  to 
follow."  "I  justify  you  freely  through  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ,  but  there's  more  to  follow."  ''I 
adopt  you  into  my  family,  but  there's  more  to  fol- 
low." ''  I  have  helped  you  even  down  to  old  age, 
but  there's  more  to  follow."  '<  I  have  brought  you 
to  the  brink  of  Jordan  and  am  with  you  in  crossing 
the  dark  stream  that  divides  the  present  world  from 
the  future,  but  even  over  to  the  other  side  I  will  be 
with  you  and  as  you  enter  the  other  world  you  will 
95 


Upward  Steps 

find  there  is  still  more  to  follow."  That  is  the  way 
God  gives,  ''More  and  more,  always  more  to  fol- 
low." And  eternal  life  means  a  life  in  which  there 
will  never  come  a  time  when  there  is  not  more  to 
follow,  more  and  greater  blessings,  larger  and  richer 
experiences,  and  so  on  through  a  never-ending 
eternity,  while  even  here  and  now  we  have  ''grace 
for  grace,"  abundance  of  grace,  more  and  more, 
according  to  our  every  recurring  need. 


96 


X 

The  Making  of  Character 


The  Making  of  Character 


The  word  character  is  from  the  Greek  charassOy 
which  means  to  cut  or  to  engrave.  Character, 
therefore,  is  that  which  is  cut  into  the  soul,  en- 
graven upon  the  tablet  of  the  heart.  It  is  the  in- 
effaceable cuttings  and  chiselings  we  are  making 
upon  our  soul's  substance  day  by  day.  Men  go  on 
in  the  way  of  filthiness  until  by  and  by  you  can 
predict  that  each  voluntary  choice  will  be  of  filthi- 
ness ;  and  so  they  remain  filthy  still — and  all  along 
the  way  they  are  tending  toward  that  condition. 
So,  too,  of  the  righteous ;  by  the  making  of  right- 
eous choices  they  learn  to  love  righteousness,  and 
to  come  into  such  a  confirmed  love  of  righteous- 
ness that  they  are  sure  of  being  righteous  still. 

Character  is  not  reputation.  Character  is  what 
a  man  is ;  reputation  is  what  a  man  seems  to  be. 
The  one  is  internal,  the  other  external.  Character 
is  what  God  sees  and  knows  us  to  be ;  reputation  is 
what  men  say  and  think  we  are.  As  a  general 
thing  we  need  to  pay  very  little  attention  to  our 
reputation.  The  thing  we  need  to  pay  attention  to 
is  character,  and  then  our  character  will  take  care 
of  our  reputation.  A  good  man  seldom,  if  ever, 
99 


Upward  Steps 

needs  to  vindicate  himself  from  charges  which  the 
whole  tenor  of  his  life  contradicts.  Look  out  for 
your  character  and  your  character  will  look  out  for 
your  reputation. 

Character,  therefore,  we  see,  is  the  thing  of  real 
value,  the  crown  and  glory  of  life,  the  noblest  pos- 
sible possession.  Well  did  W.  M.  Evarts  say: 
*'  As  there  is  nothing  in  the  world  great  but  man, 
there  is  nothing  truly  great  in  man  but  character." 
It  was  said  of  the  emperor  Alexander,  of  Russia, 
that  his  personal  character  was  equivalent  to  a  con- 
stitution. Of  Montaigne  it  was  said  his  high  repu- 
tation for  integrity  was  better  protection  for  him 
than  a  regiment  of  horse  would  have  been,  he  be- 
ing the  only  man  among  the  French  gentry  who, 
during  the  wars  of  the  Fronde,  kept  his  castle  gates 
unbarred. 

It  is  a  happy  fact  that  this  attainment  of  high 
character  is  something  available  for  all.  There  is 
elbowroom  for  all  the  virtues  in  every  trade  or 
occupation.  One  may  have  comparatively  little 
culture,  slender  abilities,  and  but  small  wealth,  yet 
if  his  character  be  of  sterling  worth  he  will  always 
command  an  influence,  be  a  means  of  blessing  to 
the  world  and  get  the  recognition  due  to  true 
nobility.  "Manhood  overtops  all  titles."  ''One 
ruddy  drop  of  manly  blood  the  surging  sea  out- 
weighs." 

"  Better  not  be  at  all 
Than  not  be  noble," 
ICO 


The  Making  of  Character 

says  Tennyson.     And  Lowell  adds  a  finest  tribute 
when  he  says : 

"  When  all  have  done  their  utmost,  surely  he 
Hath  given  the  best  who  gives  a  character 
Erect  and  upright." 

Toward  such  a  character,  by  every  motive  of 
love  to  God  and  love  to  man  and  love  to  our  own- 
selves,  we  are  bound  to  aim,  if  we  would  not  each 
become  a  decayed  wreck  of  crumbling  possibilities. 

But  the  formation  of  character — what  are  some 
of  the  secrets  of  its  process  ?  For  one  thing.,  it  is 
always  slow  and  silent.  It  is  never  an  upheaval. 
Its  foundation  is  never  laid  in  a  day.  There  was 
once  a  stupendous  apartment  without  supports  in 
the  great  cav^  of  Kentucky.  But  following  the  up- 
heaval that  formed  the  cave,  water  began  to  per- 
colate through  the  dome  and  fall  drop  by  drop  to 
the  floor.  An  invisible  sediment  of  carbonate  of 
lime  was  left  by  each  drop  on  the  ceiling  and  where 
it  fell  on  the  floor.  Nature's  workmen  had  begun 
to  pillar  that  mighty  dome.  By  day  and  by  night, 
without  let  or  hindrance,  the  work  went  on.  At 
last  the  stalactite  began  to  hang  from  the  vault  and 
the  stalagmite  to  rise  from  the  floor,  and  long  before 
the  eyes  of  man  looked  into  that  little  world,  the 
pillars  from  above  and  the  pillars  from  below  had 
met  and  a  thousand  columns  supported  the  over- 
hanging roof,  until  now  all  the  railroads  in  the  State 

lOI 


Upward   Steps 

might  roll  their  cars  over  the  place,  or  you  could 
pile  another  continent  upon  it,  and  it  would  not 
yield  an  inch.  Thus  character  is  always  stalactitic 
in  its  formation,  begun  in  a  moment,  but  running 
on  through  a  lifetime  and  coming  to  an  absolute 
permanence.  Never  a  drop  of  truth  percolates 
through  the  heart  that  it  does  not  leave  a  sediment 
of  strength.  Never  a  thought,  word  or  deed  that 
does  not  leave  some  eternal  effect. 

Not  alone  good  character,  but  bad  character  is 
formed  in  the  same  way.  The  rules  which  apply 
to  the  forming  of  one  apply  to  the  forming  of  the 
other.  This  is  why  the  familiar  and  solemn 
passage  in  the  book  of  Revelation,  '<  He  which  is 
filthy,  let  him  be  filthy  still,"  etc.,  applies  exactly 
the  same  terms  to  the  becoming  confirmed  in  un- 
righteousness and  the  becoming  confirmed  in  holi- 
ness. The  white  sediment  of  lime  makes  the  beau- 
tiful marble-like  pillars  in  the  Mammoth  Cave,  but 
some  dark  and  filthy  sediment  would  make  unlovely 
pillars,  just  the  same.  You  have  seen  an  icicle 
formed,  and  noticed  how  it  froze  one  drop  at  a 
time  until  it  became  a  foot  long,  or  more.  If  the 
water  was  clear  the  icicle  remained  clean,  and 
sparkled  brightly  in  the  sun  ;  but  if  the  water  was 
slightly  muddy,  the  icicle  was  foul  and  its  beauty 
spoiled.  Just  so  our  characters  are  formed.  One 
little  thought,  one  little  act,  one  little  feeling  after 
another  adds  its  influence.  If  these  thoughts  and 
acts  and  feehngs  be  pure  and  good,  the  soul  will  be 

102 


The  Making  of  Character 

lovely  and  sparkle  with  beauty  and  blessing ;  but 
if  they  are  impure  and  wrong  the  result  can  be  only 
deformity,  unloveliness  and  wretchedness.  It  is 
very  important  that  we  come  to  realize  how  entirely 
the  completed  character  we  form,  good  or  bad, 
depends  on  the  feelings  and  thoughts  and  doings 
of  each  passing  day. 

It  is  just  here  that  the  question  of  our  habits  gets 
its  tremendous  importance.  Habit  tends  to  make 
us  permanently  what  we  are  for  the  moment.  Few 
of  us  realize  how  constantly  and  how  potentially 
our  lives  are  influenced  and  even  dominated  by  our 
daily  habits.  Shakespeare  taught  us  ''how  use 
doth  breed  a  habit  in  a  man";  for  the  frequent 
repetition  of  acts  causes  a  tendency  almost  resistless 
toward  their  regular  recurrence,  which  has  caused 
habit  to  be  called  ''  A  kind  of  second  nature  grow- 
ing up  within  us."  For  a  middle-aged  person 
habit  is  practically  fate.  It  is  practically  certain 
that  acts  I  have  done  for  twenty  years  I  will  repeat 
to-day.  On  the  island  of  Cuba  there  are  certain 
roads  down  the  mountains  where  the  wheel  tracks 
are  worn  so  deeply  in  the  limestone  that  when  the 
wheels  of  a  vehicle  have  entered  them  at  the  top 
there  is  no  getting  out  until  they  have  gone  to  the 
bottom.  There  is  a  fatality  like  that  about  habit. 
What  are  the  chances  for  a  man  who  has  been  lazy 
and  indolent  all  his  life  starting  in  to-morrow  morn- 
ing to  be  industrious,  or  a  spendthrift  frugal,  a  lib- 
ertine virtuous,  or  a  profane,  foul-minded  man 
103 


Upward  Steps 

clean  and  chaste  ?  Long  practiced  habit  is  prac- 
tically fate.  ''Habit,"  says  Horace  Mann,  **is  a 
cable ;  we  weave  a  thread  of  it  every  day,  and  at 
last  we  cannot  break  it."  ''The  chains  of  habit 
are  generally  too  small  to  be  felt  till  they  are  too 
strong  to  be  broken,"  says  the  wise  Samuel  John- 
son. The  drunken  Rip  Van  Winkle,  in  Jefferson's 
play,  excuses  himself  for  every  fresh  dereliction  by 
saying  :  "I  won't  count  this  time."  He  may  not 
count  it,  but  it  is  being  counted  none  the  less. 
Down  among  his  nerve  cells  and  fibers  the  mole- 
cules are  counting  it,  registering  and  storing  it  up, 
to  be  used  against  him  when  the  next  temptation 
comes,  and  the  next  and  the  next  and  so  on. 
There  is  nothing  we  ever  do  that  in  scientific 
literalness  can  be  said  not  to  count.  Every  thought, 
act,  feeling,  counts,  and  it  counts  for  time  and  for 
eternity.  Fortunately  it  counts  just  as  forcefully, 
when  right,  in  favor  of  good  character,  as  when 
wrong  in  favor  of  bad.  We  speak  of  the  tyranny 
of  bad  habits,  let  us  give  equal  attention  to  the 
advantages  when  they  are  good. 

This  brings  us  to  another  thought  to  which  few 
of  us  pay  as  much  attention  as  we  ought.  We 
mean  that  of  the  power  of  character,  the  mighty 
force  it  exerts  in  the  world.  We  can  calculate  the 
efficiency  of  an  engine  to  the  last  ounce  of  pressure. 
We  can  tell  the  working  force  of  a  dynamo  to  a 
single  ohm.  The  power  of  these  can  be  as  accu- 
rately and  easily  determined  as  the  temperature 
104 


The  Making  of  Character 

of  a  room.  But  who  can  reckon  up  the  inherent 
force  of  a  man  or  woman  of  predominant  char- 
acter ?  Wellington  said  of  Napoleon  that  his  pres- 
ence with  the  French  army  was  equivalent  to  forty- 
thousand  additional  soldiers  ;  and  Richter  said  of 
the  invincible  Martin  Luther  that  *'his  words  were 
half  battles."  Character  is  power.  ''My  road 
must  be  through  character  to  power,"  wrote  Chan- 
ning  in  1 80 1.  *'  I  will  try  no  other  course;  but  I 
am  sanguine  enough  to  believe  that  this  course, 
though  not,  perhaps,  the  quickest,  is  the  surest." 
Power  is  a  proper  goal  of  ambition,  but  it  is  well 
for  us  to  bear  in  mind  that  only  through  a  noble 
character  can  any  one  arrive  at  a  personality  strong 
enough  to  influence  men  or  nations.  The  gaining 
of  political  campaigns,  the  triumphing  in  war,  the 
succeeding  in  business  or  the  winning  of  souls  for 
the  kingdom'  of  Christ  is  in  almost  every  case,  a 
victory  of  character.  Character  is  power,  and  we 
all  can  have  that  kind  of  power  if  we  will.  ''  If  I 
buy  you,  will  you  be  honest  ?  '  *  asked  a  kind- 
hearted  man  of  a  colored  boy  he  pitied  at  a  slave 
market,  before  the  war.  '*  I  will  be  honest  whether 
you  buy  me  or  not,"  replied  the  boy,  with  a  look 
that  baffled  description.  Let  us  have  character, 
anyway,  but  let  us  also  remember  that  when  we  do 
possess  it,  it  is  the  source  of  untold  power  to  the 
possessor. 

It  is  a  blessed  fact  that  such  high  character  has 
also  a  self-propagating,  self-augmenting  power.    It 
105 


Upward   Steps 

produces  more  character  of  the  same  kind,  just  as 
an  oak  produces  acorns,  and  the  acorns  all  produce 
more  oaks.  Character  runs  its  own  factories,  and 
turns  out  its  own  goods.  They  put  John  Bunyan  in 
jail.  He  had  not  sat  down  in  his  cell  before  he 
turned  it  into  a  character  factory.  Thenceforth  not 
one  arrow  was  shot  at  him  but  he  picked  it  up  and 
worked  it  into  the  bone  and  sinew  of  his  transcend- 
ent manhood.  Not  a  hardship  was  endured,  not  a 
kindness  was  shown  him  behind  those  bars  but 
went  through  the  same  mysterious  machine,  and 
came  out  the  same  priceless  product.  Day  and 
night  for  twelve  long  years  that  workshop  ran.  It 
has  enriched  the  ages.  So  we,  too,  may  turn  each, 
himself  or  herself,  into  a  character  factory,  and  we 
will  grow  stronger  and  stronger  ourselves,  and  our 
influence  will  be  a  growing  and  widely  pervading 
one. 

These  suggestions  all  serve  to  emphasize  our  main 
thought,  that  of  the  eternity  of  character.  Char- 
acter makes  destiny. 

"  Virtue  alone  out-builds  the  pyramids, 
Her  monuments  shall  last  when  Egypt's  fall." 

Character  is  an  eternal  thing,  as  eternal  as  the  soul 
itself.  We  are  forming  for  ourselves  to-day  the 
character  we  are  to  carry  for  all  time  to  come. 
Character  is  destiny.  Well  has  George  Dana 
Boardman  expressed  it :  "  Sow  an  act  and  you  reap 
io6 


The  Taking  of  Character 

a  habit,  sow  a  habit  and  you  reap  a  character,  sow 
a  character  and  you  reap  a  destiny." 

The  time  for  forming  it  is  hmited.  It  is  not  meant 
alone  that  life  is  short.  That  is  only  a  part  of  this 
transcendent  truth.  No ;  character  is  a  thing  that 
''sets"  quickly  and  easily,  as  plaster  of  Paris  in  a 
mold.  If  this  life  lasted  forever,  still  the  time 
would  be  limited  in  which  this  making  of  character 
must  be  done.  The  time  for  controlling  its  shape 
and  form  and  quality  is  very  limited. 

The  means  are  at  hand.  It  implies,  first  of  all, 
the  acceptance  of  God's  proffered  help.  That  help 
is  held  out  to  us  in  a  Pierced  Hand.  God  only 
can  make  us  strong  by  his  omnipotent  grace.  Only 
in  vital  union  with  him  through  Christ  can  we  love 
deeply  that  which  is  holy,  and  hate  that  which  is 
evil.  These  natures  of  ours  need  God's  smile  as 
truly  as  the  plant  must  have  the  sunshine  for  flower- 
ing. We  need  his  strength  into  which  to  throw  our 
lives  as  much  as  an  anchor,  in  order  to  aid  the 
ship,  must  be  imbedded  in  something  firm  outside 
the  ship ;  and  there  is  no  greater  nonsense  than  to 
talk  of  man's  moral  power  without  God  as  his  ref- 
uge and  strength.  "Trying  to  run  without  a 
pilot,"  was  the  only  comment  of  a  captain  as  a 
passenger  pointed  out  a  wreck  lying  upon  the  rocks. 
Suitable  inscription  would  the  same  words  be  over 
innumerable  character-wrecks  we  may  see  all  about 
us,  and  it  would  be  a  good  prayer,  in  view  of  the 
many  dangerous  rocks  upon  which  character  may 
107 


Upward  Steps 

be  wrecked,   for  us  each  to  offer,  and  offer  it  over 
and  over  again  every  day  — 

"  Jesus,  Saviour,  pilot  me 
Over  life's  tempestuous  sea ; 
Unknown  waves  before  me  roll, 
Hiding  rock  and  treacherous  shoal ; 
Chart  and  compass  come  from  thee  : 
Jesus,  Saviour,  pilot  me." 


io8 


XI 

Chorusing  Our  Graces 


Chorusing  our  Graces 


*' A  SUM  in  gospel  addition,"  ''The  rainbow  of 
Christian  character,"  and  other  such  titles  have 
been  applied  to  four  precious  and  very  meaningful 
verses  in  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter.  The  verses 
are  the  fifth  to  the  eighth,  inclusive,  of  the  first 
chapter,  beginning,  ''Giving  all  diligence,  add  to 
your  faith  virtue;  and  to  virtue  knowledge;  "  etc. 
In  this  wonderful  passage  faith  forms  the  beautiful 
sky-blue  background  for  the  display  of  the  seven- 
colored  rainbow  of  Christian  graces.  Every  word 
is  a  study  and  every  one  of  the  seven  elements 
mentioned  is  essential  to  the  forming  of  the  per- 
fected Christian  character.  The  word  "add"  is 
significant.  It  is  the  Greek  choragin — literally,  to 
lead  a  chorus.  The  suggestion  is  that  of  a  well- 
ordered  chorus  or  orchestra,  in  which  each  voice  or 
instrument  contributes  to  the  harmony  of  the 
whole.  Thus,  we  see  that  character  is  symmetry. 
One  color  does  not  make  a  rainbow ;  one  voice  does 
not  make  a  chorus.  Lack  of  one  color  would  mar 
a  rainbow.  Lack  of  one  voice  would  mar  a 
chorus.  One  grace  does  not  make  a  perfect  char- 
acter. Lack  of  one  grace  mars  a  character.  God's 
in 


Upward   Steps 

character  is  a  perfect  combination  of  noble  attri- 
butes. Most  of  the  mistaken  theology  in  the  world 
is  due  to  people  magnifying  one  attribute  of  God  or 
minimizing  another.  The  only  way  to  get  a  right 
theology  and  a  right  conception  of  God  is  by  rec- 
ognizing all  his  attributes  in  their  harmonious  rela- 
tion the  one  to  the  other.  People  can  make  the 
Scriptures  mean  anything  they  wish  by  over-em- 
phasizing some  things  and  not  recognizing  others. 
The  only  way  is  to  compare  Scripture  with  Scrip- 
ture, to  take  the  Bible  altogether,  accepting  God's 
truth  in  the  exact  proportion  and  emphasis  in  which 
he  has  given  it.  Our  character,  too,  is  to  be  a 
thing  of  harmony,  of  graces  in  right  proportion. 

There  is  stated  first  in  those  verses  the  law  of 
spiritual  thrift — '^  diligence."  Our  growth  toward 
the  perfect  character  is  to  be  made  through  con- 
scious effort.  We  make  mental  growth  through 
application — through  downright  intellectual  dili- 
gence. The  law  of  moral  growth  is  the  same. 
None  of  us  need  fear  that  we  will  waken  up  some 
fine  morning  and  hardly  know  ourselves  because 
we  have  suddenly  become  so  good.  Only  through 
moral  diligence  will  we  make  moral  attainments. 
The  same  is  true  of  us  spiritually.  We  must  ''give 
all  diligence  "  if  we  would  add  to  our  faith  virtue 
and  to  virtue  knowledge,  and  so  on,  and  bring 
them  all  along  together  in  the  way  of  symmetrical 
and  harmonious  spiritual  growth;  and  this  is  the 
way  we  are  to  bring  them.     When  we  are  told  to 

112 


Chorusing  Our  Graces 

• '  add  ' '  one  grace  to  another,  it  is  not  meant  that 
we  are  to  cultivate  them  one  at  a  time,  working  to 
get  one,  and  then  by  and  by  another,  and  so  on. 
No,  they  are  to  be  all  moving  together,  they  are  to 
be  like  the  singers  in  the  chorus,  all  the  voices  en- 
gaged and  all  moving  on  together  to  give  the  most 
perfect  rendering  of  the  composition.  True  char- 
acter is  a  chorus  of  graces.  We  must  not  forget 
that,  for  we  are  liable  to  be  satisfied  with  ourselves 
if  we  find  we  possess  some  one  or  two  of  these 
graces ;  but  the  desirable  character  can  only  come 
through  the  perfect  harmony  and  united  progress  of 
them  all.     We  must  chorus  our  graces. 

As  we  have  said,  the  foundation  principle  of 
Christian  character  is  faith.  It  is  faith  that  unites 
us  to  Christ  and  marks  the  beginning  of  the  Chris- 
tian life.  Faith  is  the  vital  thing,  the  all-important 
first  principle,  without  which  all  else  is  vain  or  un- 
attainable. 

To  faith  add  virtue.  The  word  is  used  in  the 
sense  of  manliness  or  courage,  which  is  developed 
in  the  exercise  of  faith.  It  is  a  word  peculiar  to 
Peter,  having  a  wide  significance.  As  muscle  en- 
larges and  strengthens  under  the  steady  stroke  of 
the  mechanic,  so  faith  under  the  fiery  assaults  of 
temptation  develops  a  vigorous  and  courageous 
Christian  manhood.  We  all  need  courage  to  stand 
true  to  our  Christian  faith.  Christianity  is  an  ap- 
peal to  the  hero  qualities  in  a  man  or  woman.  It 
is  a  demand  for  the  knightly  grace  of  courage. 
113 


Upward  Steps 

To  courage  add  knowledge.  The  sense  is  of 
prudence  or  practical  knowledge,  discretion.  The 
courageous  man  is  not  a  dreamy,  impractical  the- 
orist. His  courage  makes  him  alert  and  intel- 
lectually awake,  so  that  the  wisest  means  are  de- 
vised by  him  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  pur- 
poses. Prudence, — tact,  practical  knowledge,  dis- 
cretion,— is  an  excellent  grace  for  any  Christian  to 
possess.  It  is  a  grace  that  can  be  cultivated.  We 
all  ought  to  strive  hard  to  add  to  our  courage  dis- 
cretion. It  will  help  us  to  the  doing  of  much  good 
that  cannot  be  accomplished  without  it. 

To  knowledge  add  temperance.  The  meaning 
is  self-control,  the  word  being  incorrectly  rendered 
temperance.  But  the  man  of  practical  knowledge, 
of  good  common  sense,  the  man  who  looks  at 
things  from  every  standpoint,  is  never  a  rash,  ex- 
treme, uncontrolled  man.  He  is  temperate  in  all 
things,  in  words  and  acts,  in  eating,  in  drinking. 
The  union  of  virtue  and  knowledge  are  sure  to  pro- 
duce such  temperance,  such  self-control,  and  to 
cause  a  man  to  bring  his  appetites  and  passions  into 
subjection  and  under  the  rule  of  an  educated  con- 
science. We  believe  the  union  of  virtue  and  knowl- 
edge will  make  a  man  a  temperate  man ; — yes,  even 
a  *' temperance"  man,  in  the  good  sense  of  that 
word  as  used  in  these  days ;  but  his  self-control 
will  also  manifest  itself  in  every  direction  of  his 
feeling,  thinking  and  acting. 

Add  to  self-control  patience.     This  is  a  grace 
114 


Chorusing  Our  Graces 

very  naturally  accompanying  the  former,  self-con- 
trol. The  use  of  the  word  has  special  reference  to 
such  sufferings  as  are  to  be  endured  in  the  service 
of  Christ.  Patient  endurance  is  a  step  beyond  self- 
denial.  Though  it  sounds  passive,  it  may  be  a 
very  active  thing,  the  giving  one's  self  to  unselfish 
service.  The  Christian  must  be  patient  with  him- 
self, for  he  will  make  mistakes.  He  must  be  pa- 
tient with  his  brethren,  for  they  will  make  mistakes. 
He  must  be  willing  to  wait  patiently  for  results.  A 
friend  said  to  a  poet  of  national  reputation  :  *'  You 
must  be  a  happy  man.  The  praises  you  are  receiv- 
ing must  be  very  gratifying  to  you."  "Yes,"  he 
replied,  '*  but  I  wrote  just  as  good  poetry  twenty 
years  ago,  but  received  no  praise."  Twenty  years 
of  lack  of  appreciation,  twenty  years  of  patient,  yet 
acting,  endurance — such  patience  do  we  need  as 
Christians,  if  suffering,  in  waiting  for  deliverance ; 
if  serving,  in  continuing  to  serve  and  wait  for  re- 
sults. 

Add  to  patience  godliness.  Patience  without 
godliness  is  stoicism.  But  the  godly  man  is  the 
man  who,  in  his  pains  and  sorrows,  in  the  midst  of 
those  things  that  call  for  patience,  has  hold  of  his 
heavenly  Father's  hand,  and  is  made  not  only  pa- 
tient, but  strong  and  hopeful  and  more  Godlike. 
Godliness  is  God-likeness.  It  includes  the  idea  of 
a  confession  of  belief  in  the  one  living  and  true 
God  and  the  living  according  to  this  confession. 
The  godly  man  studies  God's  book,  loves  God's 
115 


Upward   Steps 

house,  respects  God's  Sabbath,  lets  not  his  hfe  be 
inconsistent  with  his  profession  of  rehgion,  tries  to 
promote  God's  cause  and  uses  every  means  to  be- 
come daily  more  like  the  Saviour  whom  he  serves. 

Add  to  godliness  brotherly  kindness.  Literally, 
love  of  the  brethren.  This  is  the  complement  of 
godliness.  If  we  should  stop  at  godliness  we  should 
have  a  one-sided  and  imperfect  religion.  The  obli- 
gations we  owe  to  our  fellow-disciples  are  just  as 
binding  as  those  we  owe  to  God,  because  the  one 
set  of  obligations  embraces  the  other.  <<  If  a  man 
say,  I  love  God,  and  hateth  his  brother,  he  is  a 
liar :  for  he  that  loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he 
hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not 
seen  ?  And  this  commandment  have  we  from  him, 
That  he  who  loveth  God  love  his  brother  also." 

Add  to  brotherly  kindness  charity — love.  Love 
in  the  sense  of  philanthropy — love  of  everybody. 
The  word  used  is  charitas,  meaning  love  in  its 
broadest  sweep.  It  embraces  a  man's  legitimate 
love  of  himself,  the  love  of  his  fellow -men,  and  his 
love  toward  God.  *'  The  greatest  of  these  is  char- 
ity." All  the  graces  meet  in  this  grace  of  love, 
and  it  is  the  golden  link  which  both  binds  them  all 
together  and  binds  the  loving  soul  to  God.  It 
properly  closes  the  symphony  of  graces.  It  is  the 
crowning  virtue,  the  dome  of  the  structure  of  Chris- 
tian character. 

We  are  told  that  the  Statehouse  at  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  is  a  very  beautiful  building.  For  one  thing, 
ii6 


Chorusing  Our  Graces 

it  is  founded  upon  a  rock.  That  is  satisfying. 
There  is  solidity.  But  it  is  the  dome  which  de- 
mands and  receives  most  attention.  It  rises  to  an 
altitude  of  over  two  hundred  feet.  But  with  what 
to  crown  that  dome  was  the  question  long  debated 
by  the  people.  Finally  it  was  decided  that  nothing 
but  gold  would  do.  Thousands  of  dollars  were  ex- 
pended in  covering  it  with  fine  gold.  Now,  when 
the  morning  sun  shoots  its  gleaming  arrows  that 
golden  dome  takes  them  up  and  floods  the  city 
with  splendor.  Faith  is  the  rock  foundation  of 
Christian  character.  Then  rise  in  mighty  columns, 
courage,  knowledge,  self-control,  patience,  godli- 
ness, brotherly  kindness,  to  all  of  which  is  added 
the  gold-crowned  dome  of  love,  that  sheds  its  pure 
splendor  over  all. 

The  character  thus  rounded  and  completed  and 
love-crowned  brings  us  into  the  fullness  of  Chris- 
tian experience  and  usefulness.  ''For  if  these 
things  be  in  you,  and  abound,  they  make  you  that 
ye  shall  neither  be  barren  nor  unfruitful  in  the 
knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  In  other 
words,  he  who  makes  the  acquaintance  of  Christ 
by  faith,  and  ''adds"  to  his  faith  the  graces  of 
Christian  character,  will  be  neither  barren  nor  un- 
fruitful in  his  knowledge  of  Christ,  but  will,  in  fact, 
make  the  very  utmost  of  himself  in  the  way  of 
growth  in  grace,  usefulness  to  others,  and  toward 
the  glory  of  God. 


117 


XII 

Going  the  Second  Mile 


Going  the  Second  Mile 

AiNiONG  the  many  <*hard  sayings"  of  Christ  in 
the  sermon  on  the  mount  is  the  remarkable  one 
about  the  duty  of  going  the  second  mile:  ''And 
whosoever  shall  compel  thee  to  go  a  mile,  go  with 
him  twain."  It  was  not  understood  when  he  spoke 
it  and  it  has  not  yet  come  to  be  generally  under- 
stood in  any  such  fullness  of  meaning  as  he  in- 
tended. The  words  no  doubt  referred  to  the  then 
common  custom  of  forced  labor  which  came  in 
connection  with  the  transfer  of  soldiers,  the  carry- 
ing of  messages,  and  other  services  of  the  state. 
If  the  Roman  troops  were  marching  through  a 
province  they  had  the  power  to  make  a  kind  of  levy 
among  the  able-bodied  men  of  each  district  to  go 
along  and  help  convey  their  baggage.  Post  offices 
were  then  unknown ;  heralds  bearing  the  royal 
commands  might  compel  any  person  or  press  into 
service  any  horse,  boat  or  vehicle  in  any  part  of  the 
empire.  It  was  to  such  customs  as  these  that  our 
Saviour  referred.  '*  Rather,"  says  he,  ''than  resist 
a  public  authority  requiring  your  aid  and  attendance 
for  a  certain  distance,  go  peaceably  twice  the  dis- 
tance. ' ' 

121 


Upward   Steps 

The  words  have  a  far  more  meaningful  applica- 
tion than  to  the  mere  matter  of  submission  to  such 
customs  as  these.  They  are  the  application  of  a 
profound  principle.  Our  Lord  is  teaching  that  the 
righteousness  of  the  Christian  must  far  exceed  the 
mere  letter-of-the-law  righteousness  of  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees.  He  is  denouncing  mere  conven- 
tional virtue,  that  punctilious  morality  which  with- 
out any  love  in  it  goes  simply  so  far  as  it  must 
and  no  farther.  He  is  asking  a  spirit  and  a  service 
which  outruns  the  nicely  calculated  limit  of  the 
first  mile,  but  overflows  into  a  willing,  glad-hearted 
spiritual  largeness.  He  is  preaching  the  gospel  of 
the  second  mile,  and  it  is  worth  our  while  to  un- 
derstand how  it  applies  to  us  in  our  everyday  life. 

For  one  thing  this  gospel  of  the  second  mile 
teaches  us  the  duty  of  cheerful  submission  to  ill. 
There  are  compulsions  of  ill  that  come  to  us  all. 
It  may  be  the  drudgery  of  hard  labor,  the  service 
of  a  hard  master,  the  pressure  of  poverty ;  any  one 
of  all  these  may  drive  us  along  weary  miles 
against  our  will.  This  gospel  of  the  second  mile 
indeed  takes  from  none  the  privilege  of  bettering 
his  condition,  if  it  can  be  rightly  done ;  but  it  does 
say:  *'If  you  must  be  oppressed,  if  you  must 
obey,  if  you  must  submit  to  ill,  do  it  not  in  a  sullen 
or  a  surly  temper  ;  but  rather  accept  your  compul- 
sion as  by  your  Father's  permission  and  use  it  as 
an  opportunity  to  perform  the  force-imposed  duty 
so  cheerfully  that  both  you  and  your  religion  will 

122 


Going  the  Second  Mile 

be  commended.     Do  even  more  than  is  required  of 
you.     Go  the  second  mile." 

The  powers  that  be  are  ordained  of  God,  and  so 
are  the  duties  that  bind  us,  the  claims  that  press 
upon  us,  the  ills  that  befall  us  and  the  sorrows  that 
we  must  bear.  If  therefore  the  Lord  in  his  provi- 
dence compel  thee  to  go  one  mile  along  any  sorrow- 
ful way,  learn  to  say  **  Thy  will  be  done"  and 
joyfully  go  with  him  twain. 

But  it  would  be  greatly  narrowing  these  words 
of  Christ  to  construe  them  merely  as  a  precept  of 
submission  to  ill,  or  a  rule  of  nonresistance ;  for 
this  second-mile  gospel  also  makes  very  plain  the 
way  to  put  highest  qualities  into  the  common  acts 
of  our  everyday  living.  There  is  no  virtue  in  the 
first  mile.  Whether  we  will  or  no  we  must  go  that. 
Some  people  talk  of  ' '  making  a  virtue  of  neces- 
sity "  ;  but  it' can't  be  done.  There  is  no  virtue  in 
necessity.  The  virtue  begins  on  the  second  mile, 
where  the  matter  of  voluntary  choice  begins. 

Maybe  you  are  engaged  to  render  service  to  an 
employer.  Your  work  scarcely  has  value  until  it 
passes  the  end  of  the  first  measured  mile  ;  then  it 
begins  to  have  heart  in  it,  to  be  in  a  degree  volun- 
tary and  the  expression  of  unselfish  interest.  The 
reason  why  many  men  stay  always  in  the  lowest 
ranks  of  the  wage-earning  class,  or  fall  out  entirely 
into  the  still  lower  stratum  of  the  unemployed,  is 
because  they  fail  to  make  even  a  start  on  the 
second  mile. 

123 


Upward  Steps 

Courtesy  is  not  a  conforming  to  the  code  of 
manners  or  the  living  up  to  the  requirements  of 
some  book  of  etiquette.  Friendship  is  not  doing 
the  formal  duty  toward  some  one  you  merely  call  a 
friend.  Real  friendship  is  a  thing  which  begins 
on  the  second  mile,  where  kindness  and  interest 
and  love  and  self-sacrifice  begin.  The  fact  is  that 
all  the  graces  and  virtues  of  life  begin  on  the  sec- 
ond mile.  On  the  first  mile,  Shylock  has  a  right 
to  his  pound  of  flesh;  the  blood-sucker  money 
lender  has  a  right  to  all  the  interest  he  can  get  and 
the  household  furnishings  in  the  end  ;  the  compet- 
itor has  a  right  to  undersell  his  neighbor  to  the 
wall ;  the  employer  has  a  right  to  get  his  clerks  at 
two  dollars  a  week  if  he  can  find  any  who  will 
work  for  that,  and  the  holder  of  widows'  mortgages 
has  a  right  to  foreclose  them  on  the  day.  That  is 
going  the  first  mile.  That  is  letter-of-the-law  liv- 
ing. That  is  the  nicely  calculated  righteousness  of 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees.  But  Christ  said  that 
except  our  righteousness  exceed  the  righteousness 
of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees — unless  it  go  the  sec- 
ond mile  also — we  shall  in  no  case  enter  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  nor  will  our  punctilious  and  conven- 
tional virtues  count  for  anything  at  all. 

This  gospel  of  the  second  mile  reveals  also  a 
knowledge  of  the  best  test  and  means  of  commend- 
ing our  religion.  It  gives  us  a  chance  to  know 
whether  we  have  any  religion  or  not,  and  if  we 
have,  of  what  sort  it  is.  To  be  truly  religious, 
124 


Going  the  Second  Mile 

Christ  says,  is  not  to  keep  hard  and  fast  rules.  It 
is  a  spirit,  not  a  formal  obedience  to  a  code.  It  is 
not  to  abstain  from  murder,  but  to  have  a  heart 
sweetened  from  all  scorn  and  revenge.  It  is  not 
merely  to  avoid  immoral  acts,  but  to  allow  no  unclean 
desires  to  build  their  nests  in  our  souls.  It  is  not 
the  minimum  Christian  trying  to  get  to  heaven  just 
as  cheaply  as  possible,  never  asking.  How  much 
can  I  do  for  Christ  and  his  cause  ?  but.  How  little 
can  I  do  consistent  with  safety  ?  It  is  not  the  aver- 
age Christian  going  to  church  once  a  day,  giving 
because  others  do  to  help  the  poor,  or  contributing 
a  little  now  and  then  to  the  church  or  the  work  of 
missions  because  he  knows  he  would  be  counted 
stingy  did  he  fail  to  give.  It  is  the  maximum 
Christian  out  in  the  region  of  glad-hearted,  volun- 
tary, love-prompted  service. 

Love  does  tot  think  of  counting  miles.  It  never 
says,  <'Can  I  stop  here?"  ''Have  I  done  my 
share  ?  "  It  is  a  characteristic  of  love  to  be  doing 
always  more  than  is  expected  or  required.  Love 
goes  the  second  mile  and  counts  it  not  a  weary 
thing  to  go  ten  thousand  more.  This  is  what  the 
religion  of  the  second  mile  does  for  men.  It  brings 
heart  enlistment.  It  causes  us  to  serve,  not  because 
we  must  but  because  we  will,  because  we  love  and 
therefore  delight  to  do  the  will  of  the  one  we  love. 
The  second-mile  Christian  realizes  Christ's  love  for 
souls  and  therefore  tries  to  win  men  to  him.  The 
second-mile  Christian  realizes  Christ's  longing  for 
125 


Upward  Steps 

the  extension  of  his  kingdom,  and  therefore  gladly 
gives  according  to  his  ability  for  the  spread  of  the 
gospel.  Christ's  interests  become  his  interests, 
Christ's  glory  his  glory,  Christ's  cause  his  cause, 
under  the  sweet  compelling  constraint  of  love. 

The  second-mile  Christian  is  a  very  happy  Chris- 
tian, because  he  has  got  beyond  the  region  of  doubt- 
ful debate  of  finely  drawn  questions  between  right 
and  wrong,  out  into  the  region  of  voluntary,  glad- 
hearted,  love-prompted  service.  What  Christ  asks 
of  us,  and  puts  before  us  as  a  privilege,  in  this 
gospel  of  the  second  mile  is  not  the  hard-wrought 
service  of  a  nicely  calculated  less  or  more,  but 
that  overflow  of  doing  which  counts  duty  a  delight 
because  the  heart  is  in  it.    <<  Go  with  him  twain  !  " 


126 


XIII 

The  Seriousness  of  Working  for  God 


The  Seriousness  of  Working  for  God 

There  is  a  familiar  story  of  an  old  blacksmith 
and  his  chain.  The  blacksmith  lived  in  the  heart 
of  a  great  city,  and  all  day  long  people  could  hear 
the  clanging  of  his  hammer  upon  the  anvil,  and 
they  knew  that  he  was  forging  a  chain.  Now  and 
then  idlers  dropped  in  to  watch  his  work,  and  as 
they  saw  how  faithful  and  patient  he  was,  and  how 
he  would  never  pass  over  a  link  until  it  was  abso- 
lutely perfect,  they  laughed  at  him  and  told  him  he 
would  get  ever  so  much  more  accomplished  if  he 
did  not  take  pains.  But  the  old  smith  only  shook 
his  head  and  kept  on  doing  his  best.  At  last  he 
died,  and  was  laid  away  in  the  churchyard,  and 
the  great  chain  which  lay  in  his  shop  was  put  on 
board  a  ship.  It  was  coiled  up  out  of  the  way,  and 
for  a  long  time  no  one  noticed  it. 

But  there  came  a  fierce,  wild  night  when  the 
wind  blcAV  a  gale,  the  rain  dashed  down  in  tor- 
rents, and  vivid  flashes  of  lightning  darted  through 
the  sky.  The  ship  toiled  through  the  waves, 
and  strained  and  groaned  as  she  obeyed  her 
helm.  It  took  three  men  at  the  wheel  to  guide  her. 
They  let  go  her  anchor,  and  the  great  chain  went 
129 


Upward   Steps 

rattling  over  the  deck  into  the  gloomy  waves.  At 
last  the  anchor  touched  the  bottom  and  the  chain, 
made  by  the  old  blacksmith,  grew  as  taut  and  stiff 
as  a  bar  of  iron.  Would  it  hold  ?  That  was  the 
question  every  one  asked  as  the  gale  increased.  If 
one  link,  just  one  link,  was  imperfect  and  weak, 
they  were  lost.  But  the  faithful  old  smith  had 
done  his  best  in  each  link.     The  chain  held. 

Could  we  but  realize  how  much  of  our  own  fu- 
ture destiny  and  of  the  welfare  of  others  is  bound 
up  in  our  present  action,  would  we  not  as  Chris- 
tians try  to  do  far  better  work  than  we  do  ? 

To  help  this  thought  get  still  stronger  hold  upon 
our  minds  let  us  drop  this  figure  of  a  chain,  and 
change  to  the  Bible  illustration  of  building  a  house. 
The  Bible  makes  a  plain  distinction  between  mere 
work  and  work  that  abides.  Even  on  so  good  a 
foundation  as  Jesus  Christ  himself  one  may  build 
well  or  ill,  may  build  of  either  '^gold,  silver  and 
precious  stones,"  or  of  "wood,  hay  and  stubble." 
We  are  bidden  to  be  careful  how  we  build  because 
**the  fire  shall  try  every  man's  work  of  what  sort 
it  is.  If  any  man's  work  abide  ...  he  shall 
receive  a  reward.  If  any  man's  work  shall  be 
burned,  he  shall  suffer  loss :  but  he  himself  shall 
be  saved;  yet  so  as  by  fire."  The  passage  in 
which  these  words  are  found  clearly  assumes  that 
the  builder  is  already  a  Christian,  one  who  is  build- 
ing upon  Christ,  and  will,  therefore,  himself  be 
saved;  but  the  warning  is  specifically  directed 
130 


The  Seriousness  of  Working  for  God 

against  this  same  Christian's  making  poor  work. 
The  words  picture  to  us  a  man  whose  poorly  con- 
structed house  burns  over  his  head,  though  he  him- 
self escapes  through  the  flames.  The  man  has 
been  spending  his  time  and  strength  to  little  pur- 
pose. He  has  built,  indeed,  on  the  true  founda- 
tion, but  he  has  reared  upon  it  so  much  which  was 
unsound  and  erroneous,  and  even  false,  that  he 
himself  must  be  saved  with  difficulty,  and  only 
with  the  loss  of  much  of  that  reward  which  he  had 
expected. 

The  Christian  with  his  works  will  be  saved  as 
the  different  parts  of  a  building  are  saved,  by 
proving  to  be  gold  or  silver  under  the  test  of  fire. 
How  careful  ought  we  to  be  lest  our  works  prove 
to  be  only  wood,  hay  or  stubble  !  The  simple  fact 
that  we  build  upon  Christ  will  not  insure  that  our 
building  will  be  good.  We  must  be  careful  how 
and  what  we  build,  and  with  what  materials  we 
make  the  superstructure.  Men  who  are  Christians 
are  too  often  found  teaching  false  doctrines,  or 
dogmas  that  lack  the  substantial,  vital  power  of 
Christianity.  How  many  vain  substitutes  and  foolish 
conceits,  how  much  false  theology,  how  many  mis- 
taken views  of  piety,  how  many  foolish  and  hurt- 
ful errors  have  been  propagated  by  men  who  were 
themselves  Christians  !  Every  such  work,  how- 
ever carefully  reared,  shall  be  tested  by  fire.  If 
it  shall  not  be  found  to  bear  the  test  of  the  investi- 
gation of  the  last  great  day,  then  just  as  a  cottage 

131 


upward   Steps 

of  wood,  hay  and  stubble  would  not  bear  the  ap- 
plication of  fire,  so  that  nian's  work  shall  be  found 
to  consume  away.  If  a  man's  doctrines  have  not 
been  true,  if  he  has  had  mistaken  views  of 
piety,  if  he  has  wrongly  nourished  feelings  which 
he  imagined  were  those  of  religion,  if  he  has  in- 
culcated practices  which,  however  well  meant, 
were  not  such  as  the  gospel  produces,  if  he  has 
fallen  into  error  of  opinion  or  feeling  or  practice, 
however  conscientious  he  may  have  been,  yet  he 
shall  suffer  loss;  his  works  shall  be  destroyed. 
God  sees  and  cares  what  kind  of  work  we  make. 
Certainly,  we  should  aim  to  do  abiding  work,  work 
that  will  stand  strongest  tests.  We  may  be  sure 
that  our  building  must  pass  the  scrutiny  of  God's 
all-seeing  eye.  "God  shall  bring  every  work  into 
judgment,  with  every  secret  thing,  whether  it  be 
good,  or  whether  it  be  evil." 

It  is  sad  to  think  how  unsubstantial  and  unendur- 
ing  much  of  our  work  is.  A  sight  familiar  to  the 
summer  visitors  at  Asbury  Park  will  illustrate  and 
enforce  the  thought.  Night  after  night,  under  the 
electric  light,  at  a  certain  spot  upon  the  beach,  a 
sand  sculptor  used  to  come  and  delight  the  prom- 
enaders.  Early  in  the  twilight  he  would  begin  to 
heap  the  sand  into  mounds,  and  as  the  crowds 
gathered  he  would  begin  his  task.  His  only  tool 
was  a  short,  slim  stick.  He  would  kneel  upon  the 
sand,  and  with  skillful  motions,  pat  and  hollow  and 
mold  it  into  marvelous  shapes  of  beauty.  An 
132 


The  Seriousness  of  Working  for  God 

itinerant  artist  he  was,  going  from  place  to  place, 
spending  his  time  and  pains  upon  the  shifting  sands. 
Before  every  day  dawned  the  tide  had  leveled  the 
mounds  and  obliterated  every  trace  of  his  really 
beautiful  images.  Invariably  the  thoughtful  ad- 
mirer would  sigh  because  the  man  was  not  model- 
ing in  more  lasting  material.  But  conversation 
with  him  revealed  that  he  was  satisfied.  By  pass- 
ing his  hat  his  daily  wants  were  met.  Some  other 
means  of  livelihood  he  takes  for  the  winter,  but  each 
summer  he  goes  again  to  the  beach,  like  the 
wrecker,  for  what  silver  he  can  pick  up  along  the 
peopled  shore. 

But  why  be  impatient  with  this  man  more  than 
with  others  ?  All  round  us  are  men  working  in  the 
sand.  With  many  it  is  not  the  story  of  a  summer 
only,  but  pf  a  whole  Hfetime,  written  in  nothing 
more  substantial  than  the  shifting  sand.  So  little 
good  remains,  so  unsubstantial  were  the  materials 
used,  so  unwisely  chosen  was  the  work  done  that 
the  testing  tides  obliterated  every  token  of  labor. 
A  solemn  voice  speaks  to  each  one  of  us  and  says : 
"  Ye  have  not  chosen  me,  but  I  have  chosen  you, 
and  ordained  you,  that  ye  should  go  and  bring 
forth  fruit,  and  that  your  fruit  should  remain." 

It  should  be  ours  to  do  lasting  work,  real  abid- 
ing work,  work  that  will  stand  the  tests  of  time  or 
tide  or  fire  ;  work  that  shall  remain. 


133 


XIV 

Daily  Strength  for  Daily  Duty 


Daily  Strength  for  Daily  Duty 

"  Why  fret  thee,  Soul, 
For  things  beyorid  thy  small  control  ? 
Why  fret  thee,  too, 

For  needed  things  that  thou  canst  do  ? 
Whate'er  thou  canst  help — help ! 
Whate'er  thou  canst  not,  with  no  useless  worry,  bear. 
Two  things  at  least,  then,  Soul,  need  never  cause 
thee  care." 

Dr.  Doddridge  tells  us  an  incident  of  his  life 
when  he  was  very  much  discouraged  and  depressed 
in  mind.  As  he  was  traveling  along  the  highway, 
with  spirit  downcast  and  faith  weak,  he  passed  a 
little  cottage,  the  door  of  which  was  open,  and  he 
happened  at  that  moment  to  hear  a  little  child  read- 
ing the  words  :  "As  thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength 
be."  He  speaks  of  the  effect  it  had  upon  his 
mind  as  indescribable.  "  It  was  like  life  from  the 
dead."  A  wonderful  change  came  over  his  feel- 
ings as  he  realized  the  promise.  He  says,  "The 
words  came  like  a  voice  from  heaven  reproving  my 
lack  of  faith  and  bidding  me  look  up." 

But  glad  we  are  to  say  that  those  very  words  are 

from  heaven.     They  are  God's  own  words,  and 

possibly  just  as  timely  to  many  who  may  read  these 

pages.     God  is  able  to  fulfill  this  promise  to  every 

137 


Upward  Steps 

one  of  us.  Read  in  the  two  verses  following  where 
this  promise  is  found  in  the  book  of  Deuteronomy 
how  the  promise  is  emphasized  by  having  back  of 
it  God's  almighty  power.  The  promise  is:  <'As 
thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be."  The  assurance 
is  :  "  There  is  none  like  unto  the  God  of  Jeshurun, 
who  rideth  upon  the  heaven  in  thy  help,  and  in  his 
excellency  on  the  sky.  The  eternal  God  is  thy 
refuge,  and  underneath  are  the  everlasting  arms." 
Trusting  this  promise  you  rest  your  weary  head 
upon  the  bosom  of  Omnipotence,  or,  as  you  jour- 
ney, it  becomes  a  staff  for  the  hand  of  faith  to 
grasp,  able  to  bear  the  whole  weight  of  your  sorrow 
and  care  and  trouble.  Certainly  God  has  given  no 
more  blessed  promise  to  the  Christian  pilgrim,  none 
that  can  give  more  hope  and  courage  and  peace. 

The  Christian  life  is  a  life  of  trust.  Bring  to 
mind  the  life  of  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  wil- 
derness, how  they  lived  upon  the  manna  of  God's 
bounty.  They  received  the  food  *' day  by  day," 
just  what  they  needed,  all  they  could  use,  but  no 
more  and  no  less.  So  the  promise  to  us  is  not,  "as 
thy  weeks,"  or  "as  thy  months,"  but,  "as  thy 
days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be."  Monday's  grace 
for  Monday,  Tuesday's  grace  for  Tuesday,  and  so 
on, — "as  thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be." 

Why,  then,  should  a  Christian  borrow  trouble 
from  the  future?  We  are  especially  commanded 
by  the  Saviour  not  to  take  anxious  thought  for  to- 
morrow. The  true  rule  of  a  life  of  trust  is  to  live 
138 


Daily  Strength  for  Daily  Duty 

by  the  day.  Not  long  ago  an  afflicted  friend  sent 
the  writer  this  beautiful  verse,  which  she  said  had 
been  to  her  a  great  comfort.  She  wanted  me  to 
share  in  the  blessing.  It  contains  this  very  idea  of 
living  by  the  day  : 

"  Make  a  little  fence  of  trust 

Around  to-day; 
Fill  the  space  with  loving  works 

And  therein  stay ; 
Look  not  through  the  sheltering  bars 

Upon  to-morrow ; 
God  will  help  thee  bear  what  comes 

If  joy  or  sorrow." 

How  often,  like  the  women  coming  toward  the 
grave  of  Christ,  we  ask,  "Who  shall  roll  us  away 
the  stone?"  but,  like  them,  when  we  come  to  the 
place  we  find  the  difficulty  removed. 

"  Looking  at  some  trouble  lying 

In  the  dark  and  dread  unknown, 
We,  too,  often  ask  with  sighing, 
*  Who  shall  roll  away  the  stone  ?  '  " 

and  we  may  be  crushing  our  spirits  with  care  and 
anxiety,  when,  if  we  would  but  have  faith  in  God 
who  all  the  while  is  caring  for  us,  we  might  be  fear- 
less and  joyous  and  hopeful : 

"  For  before  the  way  was  ended, 
Oft  we've  had  with  joy  to  own 
Angels  have  from  heaven  descended, 
And  have  rolled  away  the  stone." 


Upward  Steps 

We  all  are  prone  to  distrust  God  and  see  great 
troubles  rising  up  before  us.  Time  after  time  we 
have  come  to  the  place  and  either  found  the  trouble 
removed  or  that  God  had  given  us  grace  to  over- 
come it.  One  trouble  seems  scarcely  passed  before 
we  are  looking  into  the  future  for  new  ones,  forget- 
ting that  we  have  such  a  promise  as  this,  and  for 
all  time  to  come:  ''As  thy  days,  so  shall  thy 
strength  be."  O,  how  many  are  the  Will-o'-the- 
wisps  that  rise  up  in  the  way  to  frighten  the  Chris- 
tian from  the  path  of  duty  !  Yet  they  are  but 
mists  that  vanish,  or  are  seen  only  at  a  distance, 
and  to  which  we  never  catch  up.  We  see  before 
us  some  great  temptation,  and  looking  through  the 
magnifying  glass  of  our  imagination  we  think  that 
we  shall  never  be  able  to  overcome  it.  We  only 
think  of  our  own  weak  selves,  forgetting  to  trust  in 
the  strong  arm  of  our  Father  in  heaven,  who  will 
not  suffer  us  to  be  tempted  above  that  we  are  able ; 
but  with  the  temptation  will  also  make  a  way  of 
escape. 

This  promise,  too,  adapts  itself  to  all  the  vary- 
ing circumstances  in  Hfe.  "As  thy  days,  so  shall 
thy  strength  be."  Some  days  do  not  seem  to  need 
so  very  much  strength ;  everything  seems  to  go 
well;  the  sky  is  clear,  the  road  is  smooth.  But 
there  are  cloudy  days  and  stormy  days  through 
which  every  Christian  must  pass.  But  this  prom- 
ise is  the  same — "  As  thy  days."  What  sorrow  or 
suffering  God  calls  you  to  have  he  will  give  you 
140 


Daily  Strength  for  Daily  Duty 

strength  to  bear.     What  duties  he  calls  you  to  do 
he  will  give  you  strength  to  perform. 

Let  us  bear  in  mind  that  suffering  will  come. 
Just  as  night  follows  day  so  sure  is  suffering  to 
come  to  every  one  of  us. 

*•  There  is  never  a  day  so  sunny 
But  a  little  cloud  appears ; 
There  was  never  a  life  so  happy 
But  has  had  its  time  of  tears." 

We  may  be  surrounded  with  loving  friends,  but 
just  as  sure  as  we  live  will  we  witness  some  of  them 
die.  If  we  live  we  must  part  with  our  dearest 
friends,  if  we  do  not,  they  must  part  with  us.  Suf- 
fering and  separation  and  sorrow  are  sure  to  come. 
But  the  sweet  words  of  this  promise  are  a  lamp  to 
light  each  place  of  darkness. 

At  midday,  perhaps,  you  are  riding  along  in  a 
railway  train.  Light  is  streaming  in  at  every  win- 
dow. Presently  an  attendant  goes  through  the 
train  and  lights  the  lamps.  It  seems  a  strange  and 
foolish  thing  for  him  to  do.  But  wait ;  soon  the 
train  rushes  suddenly  into  a  long,  dark  tunnel. 
Then  it  is  that  you  realize  that  the  lighting  of  those 
lamps  was  neither  a  strange  nor  a  useless  thing  to 
do.  So,  fellow-Christians,  you  may  be  in  the  sun- 
shine now.  Your  path  may  lead  amid  the  flowers 
and  through  smiling  valleys ;  but  you  know  not 
how  suddenly  you  may  plunge  into  some  tunnel  of 
deepest  darkness.  Then  be  wise  enough  to  find 
the  lamps  of  comfort  and  light  them  now.  God's 
141 


Upward  Steps 

promises  are  all  lamps  to  light  up  dark  places ;  and 
I  know  of  no  brighter  one  than  this :  ' '  As  thy 
days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be." 

But  possibly  this  promise  may  come  nearer  home 
to  some  who  read  these  lines.  Maybe  you  are  al- 
ready in  the  long,  dark  passageway.  Or  possibly 
the  valley  through  which  your  steps  are  leading  is 
a  very  dark  and  shadowed  one.  Then  gladly  I 
bid  you  look  up  and  catch  some  of  the  light  which 
God  sheds  down  from  this  blessed  assurance. 

"  When  the  sun  withdraws  its  light 
Lo  !  the  stars  of  God  are  there ; 
Present  host,  unseen  till  night  — 
Matchless,  countless,  silent,  fair." 

If  we  never  had  nights  we  could  never  see  the 
stars.  And  so  if  you  and  I  never  had  any  trouble 
we  could  never  enjoy  such  a  promise  as  this  of 
which  we  have  written.  We  do  not  love  nights  but 
we  do  love  the  stars.  We  do  not  love  sorrow  and 
trouble,  but  we  do  bless  God  for  sustaining  grace. 
We  do  not  love  weakness,  but  we  rejoice  in  such 
promises  of  God  as  will  uphold  us  when  weakness 
comes. 

One  further  thought ;  it  may  be  that  some  who 
read  these  words  are  only  beginning  the  Christian 
life.  Then  is  not  this  a  blessed  assurance  with 
which  to  start  on  the  journey  ?  What  more  could 
you  ask?  You  fear  and  tremble  and  are  afraid  of 
falling,  a  thing  so  natural  to  us  all,  and  yet  all  the 
while  you  have  this  assurance,  and  from  One  who 
142 


Daily  Strength  for  Daily  Duty 

is  "able  to  keep  you  from  falling,  and  to  present 
you  faultless  before  the  presence  of  his  glory." 
When  we  look  at  the  duties  to  be  done,  and  then 
at  our  poor,  weak  selves,  it  is  no  wonder  that  we 
are  ready  to  cry  out,  ''  Who  is  sufficient  for  these 
things?  "  But  if  only  we  listen,  we  will  hear  the 
Saviour's  reassuring  answer,  ''My  grace  is  suf- 
ficient for  thee."  Daily  strength  for  daily  duty, 
daily  help  for  daily  need,  is  the  promise.  *'As 
thy  days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be." 

Mr.  Moody  tell  us  of  a  young  man  who  went 
into  business  out  in  one  of  our  Western  towns.  The 
people  thought  he  was  sure  to  fail ;  but  he  did  not. 
After  he  had  been  getting  along  some  years  axid 
showing  no  signs  of  failing,  it  was  discovered  that 
he  had  a  brother  at  the  East  who  was  very  rich,  and 
who  helped  him  along  from  time  to  time.  Just  so 
it  is  with  us  in  the  Christian  life ;  we  have  an  elder 
Brother  who  is  very  rich,  and,  joined  in  partner- 
ship with  him,  he  will  help  us  to  hold  out.  Joined 
to  Christ  we  are  in  alliance  with  One  who  is  not 
only  able  but  willing  to  give  us  all  needed  grace 
and  strength.  ''They  that  trust  in  the  Lord  shall 
not  want  any  good  thing."  "God  is  our  refuge 
and  our  strength,  a  very  present  help  in  trouble." 
Christian,  young  or  old,  or  in  whatever  circum- 
stances of  need,  take  courage,  take  heart,  look  up  ! 
The  promises  of  God  can  never  fail.  He  is  the 
same,  "  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever."  "  As  thy 
days,  so  shall  thy  strength  be." 

143 


XV 

Presenting  Jesus  to  Others 


Presenting  Jesus  to  Others 

"  Introductor  to  Christ"  is  the  appropriate 
title  given  by  Bede  to  Andrew,  who  brought  his 
brother  and  the  Greeks  mentioned  in  John  xii.  20 
to  Christ.  As  we  read  the  first  chapter  of  John's 
Gospel  we  feel  that  the  same  title  could  with  pro- 
priety be  applied  to  John  the  Baptist,  and  to  Philip. 
How  much  there  is  in  that  chapter  of  the  present- 
ing of  individuals  to  Jesus  and  of  Jesus  to  indi- 
viduals, and  how  suggestive,  too,  as  to  the  way 
disciples  for  Christ  are  still  to  be  won. 

The  several  instances  in  the  first  chapter  of  John 
of  the  presenting  Jesus  to  others  point  out  the 
divine  method  for  extending  religion  and  multiply- 
ing the  number  of  disciples.  Jesus  gained  one  dis- 
ciple at  his  baptism — his  baptizer ;  but  this  one  was 
soon  multiplied.  John  had  opportunity  to  make 
known  Christ  to  two  of  his  disciples,  and  at  once 
they  left  the  old  master  and  followed  the  new.  So 
now  Jesus  had  three  disciples.  One  of  them, 
Andrew,  was  so  glad  that  he  had  found  the 
Messiah,  that  he  started  off  and  found  Peter,  his 
brother,  and  brought  him  to  Jesus.  So  another 
follower  was  secured,  making  four  in  all.  The  next 
day  Jesus  called  Philip,  and  he  obeyed  the  call ;  so 
now  there  were  five.  Five  are  not  very  many ;  but 
147 


Upward  Steps 

still  five  are  five  times  as  many  as  one.  Philip  felt 
just  as  Andrew  had  done  before  him,  and  sought 
his  friend  Nathanael.  Nathanael  was  rather  hard 
to  convince;  so  Philip  said,  ''Come  and  see  for 
yourself;  come  and  meet  Christ."  Nathanael 
came  and  was  convinced.  So  now  there  were  six. 
This  was  only  a  small  beginning,  it  is  true;  but 
most  large  things  begin  small.  Besides  it  v/as  large 
enough  and  successful  enough  a  beginning  to  prove 
very  suggestive  to  us  as  to  how  Christ's  kingdom  is 
to  be  advanced. 

The  work  of  the  individual  is  the  true  law  of  the 
Church's  growth,  stamped  upon  it  from  the  very 
beginning.  We  do  not  discount  public  preaching, 
but  even  the  preaching  may  be  dependent  on  the 
individual  effort ;  for  did  not  Andrew  have  a  part 
in  helping  to  make  the  pentecostal  preacher, 
Peter?  What  the  Church  of  Christ  most  needs 
to-day  is  a  revival  of  individual  effort.  There  is  a 
rage  nowadays  for  large  congregations  and  for 
prominent  work ;  but  let  us  not  forget  individual 
souls.  I  think  it  was  Rowland  Hill  who  used  to 
say  that  if  he  had  a  number  of  bottles  before  him, 
and  he  were  to  dash  water  over  them  all,  a  drop 
might  go  into  this  one  and  that,  *'But,"  said  he, 
*<  if  I  take  one  bottle  and  pour  water  in,  I  fill  it  to 
the  brim."  And  so  it  ever  is  with  individual  deal- 
ing with  souls.  There  is  a  personality  in  the  appli- 
cation which  cannot  be  estimated  when  we  speak 
face  to  face  with  one  we  would  influence.  God 
148 


Presenting  Jesus  to  Others 

fructifies  the  world  by  little  rivulets ;  he  saves  the 
world  by  individual  Christians. 

Think,  too,  how  soon  this  saving  work  might  be 
done  if  only  the  individual  Christians  would  all 
prove  faithful.  There  is  a  familiar  computation 
which  shows  how  quickly  the  world  might  be  won. 
If  every  disciple  to-day  were  to  win  one  other  per- 
son to  Christ  in  each  year,  and  that  one  were  to 
win  one  other,  and  so  on,  how  swiftly  the  world 
would  be  wholly  converted  !  There  are  to-day 
millions  of  true  believers  in  the  world.  But  if  there 
were  only  loo,  see  how  quickly  the  work  would 
grow.  In  less  than  twenty-five  years  the  world 
would  be  converted,  for  this  would  double  the 
number  of  disciples  each  year.  First  year,  loo; 
second  year,  200;  third  year,  400;  fourth  year, 
800;  fifth  year,  1,600;  sixth  year,  3,200;  seventh 
year,  6,400;  eighth  year,  12,800;  ninth  year, 
25,600;  tenth  year,  51,200;  eleventh  year,  102,- 
400;  twelfth  year,  204,800;  thirteenth  year,  409,- 
600;  fourteenth  year,  817,200;  fifteenth  year, 
1,634,400;  sixteenth  year,  3,268,800;  seventeenth 
year,  6,537,600;  eighteenth  year,  13,075,200; 
nineteenth  year,  26,150,400;  twentieth  year,  52,- 
300,800;  twenty-first  year,  104,601,600;  twenty- 
second  year,  over  209,000,000 ;  twenty-third  year, 
over  416,000,000;  twenty-fourth  year,  over  836,- 
000,000;  twenty-fifth  year,  over  1,600,000,000;  or 
more  than  the  population  of  the  whole  earth.  This 
simply  shows  the  power  of  ''ones  "  multiplied. 
149 


Upward  Steps 

Think  too,  of  the  exalted  privilege  we  each  one 
have  of  doing  this  work, — of  introducing  souls  to 
Christ.  God  has  sent  no  angels  to  make  known 
and  offer  his  gospel.  As  far  as  we  can  see  it  is  his 
purpose  to  save  the  world  by  man's  effort  for  man. 
It  is  our  privilege  to  present  Jesus  to  others. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  this  kind  of  spiritual  use- 
fulness has  its  beginning  in  personal  experience. 
Andrew  and  Philip  were  first  blessed  themselves, 
and  from  that  experience  they  were  equipped  to  say 
to  others,  Come  and  see.  Before  we  can  introduce 
any  one  to  the  Saviour  we  must  have  found  him  our- 
selves. 

This  sort  of  spiritual  usefulness  usually  comes 
through  personal  testimony.  The  disciples  Christ 
won  made  it  their  business  to  testify  of  him.  Both 
by  our  lips  and  our  lives  this  testimony  should  be 
borne.  Neither  way  alone  is  enough.  Lip  without 
life  is  useless.  Life  without  lip  falls  short  of  the 
fullest  results. 

It  is  a  happy  fact  also  that  this  kind  of  spiritual 
usefulness  may  begin  along  the  line  of  friendship 
and  kinship.  So  it  was  with  these  disciples ;  one 
sought  his  brother,  another  his  friend.  Andrew 
was  before  all  else  a  good  brother.  He  went  after 
Peter.  Andrew  did  not  make  much  stir  in  the 
world,  but  Peter  did,  and  Andrew  was  the  means 
of  bringing  him  to  Christ.  In  the  great  church  at 
Rome  dedicated  to  St.  Andrew,  no  other  inscrip- 
tion could  be  found  suitable  except  "Andrew,  the 
150 


Presenting  Jesus  to  Others 

brother  of  Peter."  Before  casting  his  nets  on  Jew 
or  gentile  he  first  bethought  him  of  the  one  fellow- 
creature  who  was  near  to  him  by  the  ties  of  home 
and  family.  So  should  blood  be  thicker  than  water 
ever  in  sacred  as  well  as  in  social  life. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  common  faults  that  Chris- 
tians do  not  manifest  the  interest  they  should  in 
those  near  and  dear  to  them.  We  sometimes  give 
our  dearest  friends  reason  to  say,  ''No  man  careth 
for  my  soul."  We  know  they  would  listen  kindly 
to  any  word  we  might  say,  and  yet  we  are  dumb. 
Does  it  not  seem  strangely  inconsistent  in  us  ?  It 
would  seem  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  to 
urge  one's  own  brother  to  share  in  one's  faith,  be- 
fore looking  elsewhere  for  a  new  believer.  Yet,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  one  is  more  likely  to  shrink  from 
speaking  on  the  subject  of  personal  religion  to  a 
brother  who  is  out  of  Christ  than  to  a  comparative 
stranger.  A  reason  for  this  is  that  one's  own  short- 
comings and  failures  are  so  well  known  to  a  brother, 
that  one  often  hesitates  to  urge  the  importance  of  a 
truth  he  is  supposed  to  illustrate,  but  which  he  feels 
he  represents  unworthily.  Andrew  seems  to  have 
avoided  this  difficulty  by  saying  nothing  about  him- 
self to  Peter.  If  Jesus  were  more  prominent  in  the 
thoughts  and  words  of  believers  there  would  be  less 
thought  of  self,  and  less  embarrassment  on  that 
score  in  pleading  his  cause  with  those  who  are  yet 
aloof  from  him. 

Maybe  you  have  been  bearing  witness  conscien- 


Upward  Steps 

tiously,  but  without  success.  Well,  it  is  possible  to 
overdo  a  good  thing.  Try  silence;  watch,  pray, 
put  books  in  the  way,  try  to  throw  right  influence 
about  the  one  you  long  for.  On  the  other  hand 
possibly  you  have  been  long  silent,  afraid  of  wound- 
ing the  susceptibilities  of  your  friend,  or  of  making 
religion  repellant.  Have  you  been  trying  to  reach 
him  in  quiet  ways  without  success  ?  Then  break 
silence,  at  least  for  once.  Be  frank  and  most  affec- 
tionately outspoken. 

It  may  be  well  for  us  to  be  very  wise  and  careful, 
but  let  us  not  fail  to  be  constantly  enlisted  in  this 
most  important  of  all  work,  the  presenting  of  Jesus 
to  others. 


152 


XVI 

The  Faith  Measure 


The  Faith  Measure 

In  any  department  of  life  we  rarely  get  more 
than  we  expect  to  get.  *'  According  to  your  faith 
be  it  unto  you,"  involves  a  principle  valid  every- 
where. Expectation  is  the  first  step  in  achievement. 
Confidence  is  a  great  element  of  success  even  in  a 
game  of  ball.  It  is  unlikely  we  will  either  hit  or 
catch  a  ball  we  are  expecting  to  miss.  Some  one 
has  said  that  Columbus  practically  found  America 
before  he  left  Spain,  and  so  far  from  being  surprised 
when  he  saw  the  Western  Continent  he  would  have 
been  surprised  if  he  had  not  seen  it.  The  fact  is 
the  expectancy  of  faith  is  a  large  element  in  all 
success,  and  in  the  overcoming  of  all  difficulties. 
A  man  succeeds  according  as  he  expects  to  suc- 
ceed ;  and  if  he  says  he  shall  fail,  he  will  fail. 
Predicting  ultimate  failure  he  simply  fulfills  his  own 
prophecy.  As  with  the  Israelites  before  Canaan, 
when  any  man  begins  to  talk  about  giants  and  walled 
cities  and  discouragements,  you  may  as  well  give 
up  all  hope  of  his  succeeding.  There  is  all  the 
difference  in  the  world  between  the  man  who  ex- 
pects to  succeed  and  the  one  who  has  his  doubts 
about  it. 

A  few  years  ago  a  young  man  in  a  Western  city 
had  kindled  in  his  heart  a  longing  desire  for  an 
155 


Upward   Steps 

education.  He  had  faith  to  beUeve  he  could  obtain 
it  in  spite  of  tremendous  difficulties  in  the  way. 
With  less  than  one  hundred  dollars  in  his  pocket, 
and  no  certainty  as  to  where  another  dollar  was  to 
come  from,  he  started  for  Princeton  College.  Four 
years  from  that  time  he  was  graduated  with  some  of 
the  highest  honors  of  his  class.  The  reason  was  he 
believed  he  could  succeed ;  and  he  did.  How 
much  better  than  to  "hang  round  town"  forever 
afraid  to  aspire  !  Unbelief  invites  failure  in  any 
department  of  life,  while  the  opposite  fact  is  that 
expectant  aim  is  largely  the  measure  of  attainment. 
The  Bible  takes  up  this  principle  and  applies  it  just 
as  truly  to  the  Christian  life  and  all  spiritual  ad- 
vancement as  ever  we  do  to  business  and  worldly 
success.     It  holds  equally  true  in  both. 

This  is  true  of  our  individual  attainment  in 
grace.  We  believe  in  the  duty  of  growing  in 
grace.  But  growing  in  grace  is  a  distinct  thing 
from  believing  in  growing  in  grace.  It  would  be 
an  interesting  thing  to  know  just  how  many  Chris- 
tians, in  any  given  number,  are  actually  expecting 
to  be  better  men  and  women  next  year  than  they 
are  this.  We  may  not  be  as  good  as  we  expect  to 
be,  but  there  is  little  chance  of  our  being  better 
than  we  expect  to  be.  We  need  not  suppose  we 
are  going  to  be  taken  pleasantly  by  surprise  with 
our  attainments.  As  some  one  has  said,  "Our 
Christian  graces  will  arrive  as  we  explicitly  order 
them  from  abroad,  and  expect  the  vessel."     Per- 

156 


The  Faith  Measure 

sonally,  the  reader  can  make  that  thought  very 
practical  if  he  wishes.  It  simply  means  you  will 
never  get  the  best  of  that  temper  of  yours  until 
you  quit  expecting  it  to  get  the  best  of  you.  It 
means  that  you  will  never  overcome  any  single  one 
of  those  besetting  sins  of  yours,  until  you  cease  at 
once  the  saying  you  cannot.  We  must  aim  and 
purpose  to  make  our  advances.  The  lack  of  aim 
will  limit  the  attainment,  and  lack  of  faith  will 
limit  the  aim. 

Again,  it  is  in  the  same  way  that  unbelief  pre- 
vents answers  to  prayer.  ' '  He  that  cometh  to  God 
must  believe  that  he  is,  and  that  he  is  a  rewarder 
of  them  that  diligently  seek  him."  We  must  ex- 
pect answers.  In  a  prayer  meeting  you  have 
noticed  sometimes  how  reluctant  all  are  to  take 
part.  Do  you  know,  much  of  that  is  because  those 
present  do  not  believe  that  in  their  own  petitions 
there  is  any  real  practical  obtaining  power  !  and  so 
long  as  they  feel  that  there  isn't,  there  isn't. 

An  old  lady  had  been  reading  in  the  seventeenth 
chapter  of  Matthew  about  faith,  and  its  power  to 
remove  mountains.  '<  Now,"  said  she,  "  I  am  go- 
ing to  try  that  on  that  old  hill  out  back.  The  hill 
is  in  the  way,  ,and  praying  will  be  quicker  and 
cheaper  than  shoveling.  I  am  going  into  my 
closet  and  pray  a  good,  long,  agonizing  prayer  of 
faith."  After  a  lapse  of  considerable  time  she 
came  back,  and  looking  out  of  the  window,  said : 
**Well,  I  declare,  there's  the  old  hill  yet;  just  as  I 
157 


Upward    Steps 

supposed.  I  did  not  really  believe  it  would  budge 
an  inch." 

Now,  our  prayers  are  like  that,  a  large  proportion 
of  them.  Is  it  any  wonder  they  are  not  answered  ? 
If  God  were  to  say,  "According  to  your  faith,  be 
it  unto  you,"  how  much  would  you  get?  How 
much  ? 

Apply  the  same  thought  to  your  Christian  work. 

A  minister  once  came  to  Mr.  Spurgeon  lament- 
ing that  he  had  been  preaching  for  years  and  had 
seen  no  results.  Mr.  Spurgeon  replied,  "  Well, 
you  don't  expect  results  from  every  sermon,  do 
you  ?  "    ' '  O,  no, "  said  the  minister,  ' '  of  course  not, 

but  " ''  Well,  then,  that  is  just  your  trouble," 

said  Mr.  Spurgeon,  ''according  to  your  faith  it 
shall  be  unto  you."  The  fact  is  the  man  had  ex- 
pected nothing,  and  he  got  just  what  he  expected. 
It  will  be  no  better  with  you  in  your  work,  or  me 
in  mine. 

Once  more,  let  us  apply  this  principle  to  God's 
people  as  members  of  his  Church,  that  we  may  see 
how  unbelief  prevents  our  church  blessings.  The 
measure  of  our  faith  as  churches  will  be  the  meas- 
ure of  our  blessings  as  churches.  Recall  that  inci- 
dent of  Christ's  visit  to  Nazareth.  It  was  his  old 
home,  his  own  neighborhood  where  he  was  brought 
up,  and  he  came  laden  with  blessings  for  his  old 
friends  and  associates  if  they  would  accept.  But 
it  is  recorded  that  "he  could  not  do  many  mighty 
works  there,  because  of  their  unbelief. ' ' 

158 


The  Faith  Measure 

Have  faith  in  God  !  As  Christ  came  to  the 
synagogue  that  day,  ready  to  bless  the  people,  so 
it  is  when  he  visits  his  Church  still;  and  as  the 
measure  of  the  blessing  was  according  to  the  meas- 
ure of  their  faith,  so  it  is  still.  Then,  in  order  to 
receive  the  fullness  of  blessing,  how  important  it  is 
that  we  swing  wide  open  the  door  of  faith.  "Ac- 
cording to  your  faith  be  it  unto  you."  "As  ye 
have  spoken  in  mine  ears  so  will  I  do.  It  shall  be 
as  you  say," 

One  reason  then  why  we  don't  receive  more  is 
because  we  don't  expect  more.  We  don't  have 
the  faith.  How  often  are  we  like  those  Christians 
praying  for  Peter  in  prison.  Bring  to  mind  the 
scene — the  people  praying !  While  they  were  pray- 
ing he  knocked  at  the  door.  But  they  would  not 
believe  it  was  Peter.  He  continued  knocking. 
When  they  opened  the  door  and  saw  that  it  was 
indeed  he,  they  were  "astonished"!  Think  of 
it !  The  Church  praying ;  God  answering — and 
the  people  astonished  !  How  often  it  is  that  Christ, 
consistently  with  his  own  character,  really  cannot 
do  many  mighty  works,  in  our  churches  and  com- 
munities, because  of  our  unbelief!  O,  let  me 
beseech  every  pastor,  church  officer  or  Christian 
worker  who  may  read  these  lines  to  open  wide  the 
door  of  faith,  and  ask,  and  undertake,  and  expect 
great  things  from  the  Lord.  Lay  your  plans  wide 
and  large.  He  says,  "According  to  your  faith  be 
it  unto  you."  It  is  as  if  one  very  rich  were  to 
159 


Upward    Steps 

hand  you  a  blank  check,  with  his  name  signed, 
saying,  ''Now  fill  it  out  yourself,  write  the  amount 
you  would  draw,  and  according  to  your  faith  in 
me  be  it  unto  you."  We  might  hesitate  to  make 
too  large  a  draft  upon  an  earthly  friend  ;  but  there 
is  no  need  to  draw  lightly  upon  God, 

*'  For  his  grace  and  power  are  such 
None  can  ever  ask  too  much." 

Instead  he  is  honored  and  pleased  when  we 
make  large  drafts. 

Let  an  incident  from  the  life  of  that  grand  old 
Christian  philanthropist  George  H.  Stuart  illustrate 
the  thought.  Just  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg, 
when  medicines  were  very  scarce,  Mr.  Stuart,  then 
at  the  head  of  the  Christian  Commission,  tele- 
graphed to  the  merchants  of  Boston;  "May  I 
draw  on  you  at  sight  for  ten  thousand  dollars  ?  ' ' 
The  telegram  was  posted  in  the  Exchange.  Thirty 
minutes  later  there  flashed  back  along  the  wire : 
*'  Draw  on  us  for  sixty  thousand  !  " 

"Lord,  increase  our  faith."  May  it  not  be  that 
as  pastors  and  people,  as  Christians  and  as  work- 
ers, we  are  ever  far  too  timid  in  our  asking  ?  May 
it  not  be  that  we  are  asking  and  expecting  only  a 
little  quickening  of  the  Spirit?  Asking  and  ex- 
pecting to  see  a  few  souls  saved  ?  Asking  and  ex- 
pecting God  to  honor  a  small  draft  only ;  when  the 
reply  comes  flashing  from  his  throne:  "Not  ten 
thousand,  but  sixty  thousand  !  Prove  me  now. 
1 60 


The  Faith  Measure 

Honor  with  a  large  draft.  Put  me  to  the  proof  if 
I  will  not  open  the  windows  of  heaven  and  pour 
you  out  a  blessing  that  there  shall  not  be  room 
enough  to  receive.  According  to  your  faith  be  it 
unto  you." 

But  let  us  not  forget  that  in  all  this  there  is  a  very 
practical  side  of  cooperation  on  our  part.  Faith 
is  by  no  means  simply  an  impracticable  dream. 
Faith  would  never  have  made  halting  Israel  ask 
God  to  take  them  up  bodily  and  set  them  down 
safely  in  Canaan.  Faith  would  have  resolutely 
started  down  toward  the  fords  of  Jordan.  ''  Faith 
without  works  is  dead."  Living  faith  is  a  practical 
faith  and  goes  to  work.  It  believes  there  is  a 
human  side  as  well  as  a  divine  side  in  God's  plan 
for  accomplishing  his  will.  Faith  doesn't  pray, 
''Lord,  put  grain  into  my  barns."  Faith  plows 
and  sows  and  prays,  "Lord,  bless  effort."  So 
when  we  have  a  part  given  us  to  do,  that  is  useless 
prayer  which  does  not  try  to  answer  itself  as  far  as 
possible.  True  faith  is  practical,  and  practical 
faith  unites  prayer  and  effort.  But  it  remains  true 
because  faith  is  the  mainspring  of  all  prayer,  obedi- 
ence, expectation  and  effort,  that  there  is  ever  a 
distinct  proportion  between  the  measure  of  our  faith 
and  the  measure  of  our  blessings.  It  still  remains 
a  law  of  God's  kingdom:  "According  to  your 
faith  be  it  unto  you."  "As  ye  have  spoken  in 
mine  ears,  so  will  I  do." 

Have   we   not    here,    fellow-Christians,    a   very 
i6i 


Upward    Steps 

timely  thought  in  connection  with  all  our  efforts  for 
Christ  and  his  Church  ?  We  all  agree  in  hoping  to 
see  multitudes  of  souls  won  to  Christ.  If  we  are 
disappointed  let  us  know  that  the  reason  will  be 
found  principally  in  the  sin  of  unbelief.  Nothing 
can  hinder  the  richest  blessings  we  could  wish — 
nothing  but  unbelief.  Unbelief  stops  prayer,  stops 
expectation,  stops  work,  cuts  the  very  nerve  and 
sinew  of  effort.  But  faith  removes  mountains,  sur- 
mounts difficulties,  overcomes  the  world,  brings 
sure  success.  ''If  thou  canst  believe,  all  things 
are  possible  to  him  that  believeth."  Would  you 
see  God's  cause  prosper  in  richer  measure?  Do 
you  really  long  to  see  dearest  friends  converted, 
wanderers  reclaimed.  Christians  grow  in  grace  and 
righteousness,  truth  and  peace  prevail  as  never  be- 
fore? Then  pray.  Pray,  ''Lord,  increase  our 
faith."  Then  believe  God.  Believe  him  when  he 
says,  "Ask,  and  ye  shall  receive."  God  never 
trifles.  He  never  said,  "  Ask  to  see  whether  I  will 
give."  He  does  say  "Ask,  and  I  will  give." 
And  then,  asking,  expect.  Never  contradict  your 
faith  by  not  expecting  the  blessing.  Then  too,  be 
practical.  Start  out  in  the  path  of  honest  attain- 
ment; and  sure  as  God  is  God  and  his  word  is 
truth  you  shall  never,  never  be  disappointed. 


162 


XVII 

Following  a  Vision 


Following  a  Vision 

In  his  celebrated  defense  before  Agrippa  Paul 
recounts  the  circumstances  of  a  vision  he  had  on 
the  way  to  Damascus.  He  saw  a  person  and  he 
heard  a  voice.  Ever  since,  the  memory  of  both  had 
been  an  abiding  influence  in  his  life.  He  makes  it 
especially  plain  that  it  was  Christ  he  saw,  and 
Christ's  voice  that  he  heard.  ''And  I  said,  Who 
art  thou,  Lord  ?  And  he  said,  I  am  Jesus  whom 
thou  persecutest.  But  rise,  and  stand  upon  thy 
feet :  for  I  have  appeared  unto  thee  for  this  pur- 
pose, to  make  thee  a  minister  and  a  witness  both  of 
these  things, which  thou  hast  seen,  and  of  those 
things  in  the  which  I  will  appear  unto  thee ;  de- 
livering thee  from  the  people,  and  from  the  Gen- 
tiles, unto  whom  now  I  send  thee,  to  open  their 
eyes,  and  to  turn  them  from  darkness  to  light,  and 
from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God,  that  they  may 
receive  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  inheritance  among 
them  which  are  sanctified  by  faith  that  is  in  me. 
Whereupon,"  he  adds,  '' O  king  Agrippa,  I  was 
not  disobedient  unto  the  heavenly  vision." 

From  that  day  Saul  became  Paul,  and  his  was  a 

changed  and  most  successful  life.     Having  met  the 

Saviour,  having   heard  his  message,  having  seen 

the  great  possibilities  of  good  open  before  him,  his 

165 


Upward  Steps 

soul  was  awakened  to  high  things,  and  he  began  a 
course  of  obedience  to  a  heavenly  vision  which  led 
him  on,  ever  on.  That  was  the  secret  of  his  suc- 
cess in  the  mightiest  work  for  Christ  and  the  world 
that  has  probably  ever  been  accomplished  by  man 
— except  that  of  the  divine  Man,  our  Saviour. 
We  might  even  say  that  it  was  this  fact  of  following 
a  vision  which  inspired  Christ  himself;  for  we  are 
told  that  it  was  **for  the  joy  set  before  him"  he 
"endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame."  He 
too  was  following  a  vision.  It  was  of  a  redeemed 
world. 

Now,  it  is  a  fact  that  we  all  have  visions.  To 
every  human  being  there  comes  once  and  again  the 
outlines  of  an  oft-recurring  vision.  Our  attitude 
toward  that  vision  makes  us  or  mars  us.  Both  in 
things  temporal  and  in  things  spiritual  our  success 
depends  in  no  small  degree  upon  our  obedience  to 
the  vision.  The  same  secret  rules  our  lives  in  two 
realms,  both  on  the  side  God-ward  and  the  side 
world-ward. 

There  never  yet  was  a  strong  man,  and  there 
never  will  be  a  strong  one,  who  has  not  followed 
after  a  vision.  The  boy  on  the  seashore  watches 
the  ships  pass  by,  then  paces  the  shore  proudly, 
seeing  in  a  vision  himself  the  master  of  a  gallant 
craft.  By  and  by  he  goes  to  sea ;  and  the  inspi- 
ration of  that  vision  enables  him  to  bear  the  hard- 
ships of  his  trade  and  rise  through  the  various  grades 
till  his  vision  is  realized. 

i66 


Following  a  Vision 

A  lady  met  a  tiny  urchin  who  boasted  of  being 
in  business.  He  was  office  boy  to  a  lawyer  and 
made  ;^i.5o  a  week.  He  thought  that  a  great  deal 
of  money.  But  when  asked  if  he  intended  to 
remain  an  office  boy  he  scornfully  replied  in  the 
negative  and  announced  that  he  would  be  a  judge. 
He  had  had  his  vision,  and  in  it  he  saw  a  court- 
room and  on  the  bench  a  judge  whose  face  was 
his. 

The  difference  between  the  boy  who  goes  to  sea 
a  cook  and  dies  a  captain  and  the  one  who  dies  a 
sailor  before  the  mast,  between  the  boy  who  starts 
an  office  boy  and  dies  a  judge  and  the  one  who  dies 
a  janitor,  is  just  the  difference  between  the  one  who 
follows  a  vision  and  the  one  who  does  not.  History 
is  full  of  the  successes  of  those  men  who  have  fol- 
lowed visions^ 

Balzac's  father  tried  to  discourage  his  son  from 
the  pursuit  of  literature.  "Do  you  know,"  said 
he,  "  that  in  literature  a  man  must  be  either  a  king 
or  a  beggar?  "  But  the  boy  had  seen  his  vision, 
and  replied,  "Very  well,  I  will  be  a  king."  His 
parents  left  him  to  his  fate  in  a  garret.  For  ten 
years  he  fought  terrible  battles  with  hardship  and 
poverty,  but  won  a  great  victory  at  last. 

At  fifty-five  years  of  age  Sir  Walter  Scott  owed 
more  than  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Then  he 
began  to  follow  a  vision.  He  determined  that 
every  dollar  should  be  paid.  This  definite  resolu- 
tion   gave    confidence    and    inspiration   to   every 

107 


Upward  Steps 

faculty  he  possessed.  Every  nerve  and  fiber 
seemed  to  say,  "The  debt  must  be  paid."  Every 
drop  of  blood  caught  the  inspiration,  and  rushed  to 
the  brain  to  add  its  weight  of  force  to  the  power 
that  wielded  the  pen.  And  the  debt  was  paid.  In 
his  diary  he  wrote  :  "I  have  suffered  terribly  and 
often  wished  that  I  could  lie  down  and  sleep  with- 
out waking.  But  I  will  fight  it  out  if  I  can."  He 
did  fight  it  out,  and  in  following  that  vision  made 
his  name  and  fame  immortal. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  had  a  vision.  It  was 
of  liberty  for  the  slaves.  In  the  very  first  issue  of 
his  paper,  "  The  Liberator,"  he  wrote  these  words  : 
<<  I  am  in  earnest.  I  will  not  equivocate.  I  will 
not  excuse.  I  will  not  retreat  a  single  inch  ;  and  I 
will  be  heard." 

General  Grant  had  a  vision.  It  was  of  victory, 
and  that  speedily.  When  he  took  command  of  the 
Northern  armies  the  Confederates  seemed  as  by 
intuition  to  know  that  their  doom  was  sealed. 
"On  to  Richmond!"  was  the  watchword.  Old 
commanders  shook  their  heads ;  but  the  silent  man 
with  the  iron  will,  who  never  knew  when  he  was 
beaten,  swerved  not  a  hair's  breadth  from  his  pur- 
pose until  Lee  surrendered  his  sword  at  Appo- 
mattox. 

Our  visions  are  prophecies  of  our  destinies.  It 
is  the  quality  of  the  vision  we  follow  that  deter- 
mines the  true  success  or  failure  of  any  life.  A 
man  can  aspire  to  be  the  best  jockey,  the  best  ward 
1 68 


Following  a  Vision 

politician,  the  best  gambler  or  the  most  cunning 
cheat.  And  he  may  rise  to  be  eminent  in  his  call- 
ing !  But  as  compared  with  other  men,  his  greatest 
height  will  be  below  the  level  of  the  failure  of  him 
who  chooses  an  honest  profession.  As  is  a  man's 
vision  so  shall  his  life  be.  The  vision  of  an  ava- 
ricious youth  is  an  old  man  with  a  bag  of  gold  in  his 
arms.  The  vision  of  the  ambitious  youth  is  a  seat 
in  Congress  or  on  the  bench,  without  regard  to  how 
he  gets  there.  The  vision  of  the  self-indulgent 
youth  is  "  a  good  time  coming  "  when  he  will  have 
plenty  of  money  and  nothing  to  do.  There  are 
people  whose  vision  takes  them  no  higher  than  a 
desire  to  dress  better  than  their  neighbors  and  live 
in  better  houses  and  drive  finer  teams.  I  am 
tempted  to  believe  that  some  could  be  found  in 
this  country  -as  frivolous  as  was  the  Empress  Anne 
of  Russia,  who  assembled  the  geniuses  of  her  empire 
to  build  a  palace — of  snow  !  More  than  true  is  that 
saying  of  Disraeli's :  '*  A  person  who  does  not  look 
up  will  look  down,  and  the  spirit  that  does  not  soar 
is  destined  perhaps  to  grovel. ' '  Look  upward.  Look 
upward  and  you  will  live  upward.  Live  upward 
and  you  will  lift  upward. 

Some  may  wonder  why  it  is  that  the  following  of 
a  vision  has  so  much  to  do  with  success  in  life. 
One  reason  is  because  it  gives  such  definiteness  of 
aim.  There  is  something  to  go  for.  The  wind 
never  blows  fair  for  that  sailor  who  knows  not  for 
what  port  he  is  bound.  Many  a  life  goes  to  waste 
169 


Upward  Steps 

and  ruin  simply  because  like  an  abandoned  and 
drifting  vessel  no  guiding  purpose  directs  its  course. 
An  aimless  life  is  predoomed  to  failure ;  but  the 
man  who  is  not  disobedient  to  his  vision  has  a 
definite  and  destined  aim  which  will  bring  him  to 
some  desired  haven. 

Another  reason  is  that  the  inspiration  of  a  vision 
gives  persistence,  pluck  and  tenacity.  He  who 
does  not  tire  tires  adversity,  and  perseverance  in 
the  long  run  wins.  "I  go  through,"  is  the  clan 
motto  on  the  coat  of  arms  of  a  Scotch  family  I 
know.  Success  in  most  things  depends  on  '<  going 
through," — on  knowing  how  long  it  takes  to  suc- 
ceed and  sticking  to  it.  The  man  who  follows  a 
vision  knows  not  how  to  beat  a  retreat.  He  presses 
toward  the  mark — and  he  arrives  there  by  and  by. 

Still  another  fact  is  this,  that  the  sight  of  his 
vision  creates  in  the  man  who  follows  it  an  almost 
unquenchable  enthusiasm.  And  what  are  hard- 
ships, ridicule,  persecution,  toil,  sickness,  difficul- 
ties, to  a  soul  throbbing  with  an  overmastering  en- 
thusiasm ? 

Thus  far  we  have  noticed  this  law  of  the  influ- 
ence of  visions  mostly  on  the  world-ward  side ; 
but  even  more  noticeably  does  it  apply  to  things 
spiritual  and  eternal. 

We  know  perfectly  well  what  Paul's  vision  was. 

It  was  a  sight  of  Christ.     It  was  a  glimpse  of  his 

glory.     It  was  a  conception  of  his  character.     It 

was  a  call  to  his  service.     It  was  of  a  commission 

170 


Following  a  Vision 

to  open  blind  eyes,  to  turn  men  from  darkness  to 
light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God,  that 
they  might  receive  forgiveness  of  sins  and  inherit- 
ance among  all  them  that  are  sanctified.  *'  Where- 
upon, O  king  Agrippa,  I  was  not  disobedient  unto 
the  heavenly  vision."  Paul  began  at  once  to  fol- 
low his  vision  ;  and  he  continued  to  follow  it  to  the 
end  of  his  days,  and  we  know  where  it  led  him. 
He  is  by  common  consent  called  the  Great  Apos- 
tle; for  ''he  labored  more  abundantly  than  they 
all,"  and  his  life  was  crowned  with  most  abundant 
success. 

Now  that  is  what  following  a  vision  will  do  for 
every  one  of  us;  and  we  all  have  our  visions. 
This  privilege  is  not  one  that  came  to  Paul  alone. 
Our  visions  are  given  us  also  to  draw  us  upward  to 
a  higher  life.  ^The  dreams  of  nobleness  and  beauty 
that  come  to  our  souls  are  glimpses  of  the  heavenly 
life,  granted  to  show  us  what  we  ought  to  be. 
They  are  intimations,  too,  of  the  possibilities  of  at- 
tainment that  lie  within  us. 

But  let  us  not  forget  that  our  visions  are  not 
given  us  merely  to  be  gazed  at  in  wonder  or  enjoyed 
as  a  kind  of  rapture.  They  are  to  be  wrought  out 
into  life.  That  is  what  Paul  did  with  his  vision. 
"Whereupon,  O  king  Agrippa,  I  was  not  disobedi- 
ent unto  the  heavenly  vision."  He  immediately 
began  to  try  to  copy  the  vision  into  life.  So  with 
us ;  we  should  strive  to  realize  and  make  practical 
every  glimpse  we  get  of  spiritual  loveliness.  The 
171 


Upward  Steps 

trouble  with  too  many  of  us  is  that  we  allow  the 
heavenly  visions  to  glow  in  our  minds  and  thrill  us 
with  their  beauty  for  the  moment  and  then  fade 
away,  while  we  go  on  in  the  old  paths,  doing  the 
old  things  and  making  no  effort  toward  working 
into  realities  the  glorious  inspirations  God  sends. 
When  Raphael  was  once  asked  how  he  painted  his 
wonderful  pictures,  he  answered,  "  I  dream  dreams, 
and  I  see  visions,  and  then  I  paint  my  dreams  and 
my  visions. ' '  We  all  of  us  have  our  dreams  and 
our  visions,  but  the  trouble  with  us  is  that  too  often 
we  do  not  paint  them  anywhere.  If  we  would  only 
seize  them  and  put  them  into  form  that  could  be  kept 
and  held,  as  Raphael  did,  then  their  beauty  would 
bless  the  world.  This  then  should  be  our  aim,  like 
Paul  to  follow  our  vision, — to  work  it  out  into  life. 

What  are  the  outlines  of  some  of  these  visions 
that  come  to  us  ?  Very  well  do  you  know  what 
they  are  like.  One  morning  you  opened  your 
Bible  and  began  reverently  to  read  its  sacred  words 
and  suddenly  you  came  upon  these  :  *'  Blessed  are 
the  pure  in  heart — "  and  you  had  a  vision.  It 
was  of  a  fair  and  lovely  soul  without  the  taint  or 
blemish  of  any  evil  lust ;  and  you  said  to  yourself : 
"  I  would  like  to  be  like  that."  Did  you  begin  to 
be  obedient  to  your  heavenly  vision  ?  You  were 
like  Paul  if  you  did. 

Another  time  in  the  quiet  of  an  evening  hour 
you  read  such  words  as  these  :  "  Blessed  are  the 
poor  in  spirit ;  "  "  Blessed  are  the  meek  ;  "  "  Thou 
172 


Following  a  Vision 

shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart ;  ' ' 
"Be  anxious  for  nothing;"  "  Seek  first  the  king- 
dom of  God  and  his  righteousness;"  *'Be  ye 
tender-hearted,  forgiving  one  another;"  ''Love 
your  enemies."  Again  you  had  a  vision.  It  was 
of  a  soul  in  harmony  with  God ;  with  his  purpose, 
his  character,  his  Spirit,  and  you  said  to  yourself: 
"I  would  like  to  live  like  that."  Well,  did  you 
begin  to  be  obedient  to  the  heavenly  vision  ?  You 
were  like  Paul  if  you  did. 

By  and  by  you  read  the  gospels  through.  In- 
deed you  read  them  over  and  over  again ;  and  in 
them  you  become  acquainted  with  a  Character — it 
was  of  One  who  said,  *'  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that 
labor  and  are  heavy  laden,"  who  said,  ''Learn  of 
me;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,"  of  One  who 
was  always  kind  and  gentle  and  approachable,  who 
was  loved  of- children,  who  was  listened  to  by  the 
common  people  gladly,  who  healed  the  sick  and 
comforted  the  sorrowing,  who  "went  about  doing 
good."  Still  again  you  had  a  vision.  You  had  a 
glimpse  of  spiritual  loveliness  such  as  never  before 
greeted  the  eyes  of  your  soul.  Do  you  know  it  was 
the  very  same  vision  Paul  had  out  there  on  the  way 
to  Damascus  ?  Has  it  affected  you  as  it  did  him  ? 
"Whereupon,  O  king  Agrippa,  I  was  not  disobedi- 
ent unto  the  heavenly  vision."  All  the  usefulness 
and  beauty  of  character  and  growth  in  grace  of 
that  mighty  man  of  God  came  from  following  that 
vision.  Are  you  following  it  to-day  ? 
173 


Upward  Steps 

Many  times  you  have  had  that  vision  freshened 
up  in  your  mind.  Maybe  it  was  at  some  hour 
upon  your  knees  in  prayer.  Maybe  it  was  as  you 
entered  God's  house  and  had  your  soul  wafted  to- 
ward heaven  on  the  wings  of  some  sweet  song  or 
anthem  of  praise.  Maybe  it  was  as  the  spoken 
word  came  from  the  voice  of  God's  servant  and 
you  saw  new  spiritual  possibilities  opening  before 
you  and  felt  the  thrill  of  holy  aspiration.  Maybe 
it  was  as  you  sat  at  the  table  of  the  Lord  in  sweet 
fellowship  with  him.  It  may  have  been  in  the  kind 
act  you  did  for  some  sinning  or  needy  or  troubled 
one  of  earth.  Each  time  you  saw  the  vision  anew. 
Are  you  following  it  to-day  ?  It  is  a  transforming 
vision.  It  will  gradually  make  you  over  into  the 
image  of  God.  It  will  lift  us  each  above  the  false 
and  the  frail.  It  will  help  us  live  above  the  world 
while  in  the  world.  It  will  polish  and  plume  us  for 
glory,  honor  and  immortality  at  God's  right  hand. 

But  perhaps  some  reader  will  say:  *' Yes,  very 
well  do  I  knoAv  what  that  vision  is.  I  once  had  it, 
and  it  thrilled  my  very  being  for  a  time.  But  I 
fear  it  has  been  lost  to  me  now.  Time  has  defaced 
it  and  repeated  sins  have  disfigured  it  and  it  is  a 
very  dim  shadow  to  me  to-day;  what  I  want  to 
know  is  if  there  is  any  way  of  restoring  my  lost 
vision  ?  "     In  a  parable  we  will  answer. 

In  the  gallery  at  Bergamo  there  is  a  fascinating 
picture  of  the  Virgin  Mother  and  the  Holy  Child, 
by  Raphael.  That  picture  has  a  history.  When 
174 


Following  a  Vision 

Napoleon  the  Great  was  conquering  Italy  Milan  fell 
before  him,  and  with  it  Bergamo.  Napoleon  was 
taking  all  the  rare  and  precious  pictures  and  send- 
ing them  to  adorn  Paris.  Lest  this  picture  should 
be  seized  and  lost  to  Italy,  some  one  painted  on  its 
face  a  coarse  and  ugly  picture,  which,  of  course, 
Napoleon,  not  knowing  of  the  treasure  underneath, 
did  not  desire.  When  he  was  dethroned  the  rifled 
pictures  were  sent  back  to  Bergamo.  Among  them 
hung  this  treasure  of  Raphael ;  but,  in  the  painter's 
hurry,  there  had  been  no  mark  left  upon  it  and  so 
it  could  not  be  identified,  and  where  it  hung  among 
the  other  great  and  beautiful  pictures  no  one  could 
tell.  At  last,  in  the  year  1868,  the  daub  began  to 
scale  away,  and  then  reverent  hands  set  about  to 
clean  the  picture,  and  at  last  the  long-lost  treasure 
shone  forth  again.  Yes,  and  glad  and  happy  fact 
is  it  that  a  Igst  vision  can  be  restored  again.  If 
over  your  fair  life  ideal  crude  disfigurements  have 
come,  then  let  me  urge  that  you  immediately  set 
about  to  restore  the  original.  Carefully  remove  the 
scales  with  which  your  worldliness  has  incrusted 
it,  freshen  up  the  spots  time  has  defaced,  catch  as 
much  as  you  can  of  the  lost  hidden  beauty  while 
you  work,  and,  by  and  by,  thus  honoring  it,  it  will 
come  out  clean  and  clear  and  shine  forth  upon  your 
soul  anew.  God  will  give  you  new  grace  as  you 
give  him  new  consecration ;  and  as  you  aspire  to 
catch  the  vision  again  it  will  break  upon  you  and 
thrill  you  through  and  through.  Oh  that  we  might 
175 


Upward  Steps 

all  strive  more  and  more  to  realize  the  best  that  is 
possible  for  us — work  out  into  Christlike  living  the 
beautiful  visions  we  have  ! 

What  an  inspiration  it  is  to  know  that  we  may 
keep  steadily  before  us  an  ever-perfect  Ideal, — 
that  of  Christ  himself.  *'Let  the  same  mind  be 
in  you  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus."  "  He  that 
abideth  in  him  ought  himself  also  so  to  walk  even 
as  he  walked."  As  the  younger  artists  in  the  great 
galleries  that  are  the  glory  of  London,  Paris  and 
Rome,  may  be  seen  toiling  day  after  day  patiently 
producing  copies  of  the  masterpieces  there,  put- 
ting forth  their  utmost  skill  to  imitate  them  in  every 
line,  every  color,  every  gradation  of  light  and 
shade,  not  content  that  their  picture  shall  be  some- 
what like  the  original,  but  with  the  ambition  to 
make  their  copy  so  exact  that  none  but  the  experi- 
enced eye  shall  be  able  to  tell  which  is  the  original 
and  which  is  the  copy, — thus  should  we  place  our- 
selves before  Christ,  look  at  his  character,  so  per- 
fect, so  majestic,  so  tender,  and  determine  that 
henceforth  the  great  business  of  our  life  shall  be  to 
become  like  him.  Thank  God  for  a  perfect  Pat- 
tern. Thank  God  for  one  abiding  Ideal.  Thank 
God  for  the  strength  and  the  cheer  and  the  grace 
he  gives  us  as  we  press  toward  the  mark,  striving 
to  come  unto  the  measure  of  the  stature  of  perfect 
men  and  women  in  Christ  Jesus.  Let  us  follow 
our  vision.  Let  us  cherish  our  Ideal.  Let  us  copy 
our  Pattern.     So  shall  we  all  with  upturned  faces, 

176 


Following  a  Vision 

reflecting  as  in  a  mirror  the  glory  of  the  Lord,  be 
transformed  into  the  same  image  from  glory  to 
glory,  from  one  degree  of  character  to  a  higher, 
until  we  become  indeed  like  him.  That  is  our  goal 
— to  become  like  him.  God  grant  that  this  trans- 
forming work  may  go  steadily  forward  in  every  one 
of  us  as  we  strive  to  be  obedient  to  our  heavenly 
visions. 


177 


XVIII 

Influence 


Influence 

One  day  as  Peter  was  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem 
the  sun  shone  on  him,  and,  all  unconsciously  to 
him,  the  shadow  he  cast  fell  first  on  this  couch  and 
then  on  that,  and  at  once  mourning  was  turned  to 
rejoicing,  groans  ceased,  and  the  bedridden  were 
again  strong.  Certainly  Peter  was  not  thinking  of 
his  shadow  :  few  of  us  ever  are.  Much  less  was 
he  aware  how  eagerly  the  sick  sought  it.  Yet,  by 
a  mysterious  influence,  involuntary  and  quite  un- 
conscious, wherever  he  went  suffering  souls  were 
helped. 

The  thing  may  seem  to  us  strange,  and  yet  not 
so  strange  when  we  realize  that  in  a  true  sense  the 
same  thing  is  happening  again  every  day.  A  real 
might  streams  forth  from  every  one  of  us.  Steadily 
we  each  one  wield  the  scepter  of  an  ever  uncon- 
scious energy  which  proves  itself  either  a  blessing 
or  a  blight.  We  all  are  ''casting  shadows."  From 
every  good  life  there  goes  out  an  unconscious  influ- 
ence which  is  a  savor  of  life  unto  life  to  dying  men. 
From  every  bad  life  it  is  a  blight  like  the  shadow 
of  death. 

This  word  "shadow,"  in  the  Bible,  is  often  used 
in  this  metaphorical  sense.  Sometimes  it  symbol- 
izes a  blessing,  as  "the  shadow  of  the  Almighty." 
i8i 


Upward  Steps 

Sometimes  it  signifies  a  blight,  as  "the  shadow  of 
death." 

It  is  a  fact  that  every  one  exerts  an  influence, 
quiet  but  real ;  unconscious  but  certain ;  every  one 
"  casts  a  shadow."  The  ghost  of  Banquo  no  more 
persistently  refused  to  ''down"  at  the  bidding  of 
Macbeth  when  he  exclaimed, 

**  Hence,  horrible  shadow  ! 
Unreal  mockery  hence  !  " 

than  the  shadow  of  the  person  or  thing  on  which 
the  sun  is  falling  refuses  to  disappear.  The  poi- 
soned garment  of  Hercules,  in  the  legend,  clung  no 
closer  to  him  than  the  shadow  of  influence  clings  to 
every  one  of  us,  whenever  we  may  move,  for  good 
or  for  ill.  Why,  a  man  may  simply  stand  stock 
still  in  the  street,  saying  nothing  and  looking  at 
none :  he  will  soon  find  all  eyes  upon  him  and  all 
excitement  about  him.  Every  act,  every  word, 
every  look,  every  attitude  is  a  moral  sway  upon 
those  about  us.  They  are  forces  with  which  we  are 
blighting  or  blessing.  A  man's  principles,  his  dec- 
larations, his  example  are  speaking  every  day  and 
hour ;  and  unconsciousness  of  the  thing  is  no  argu- 
ment against  the  fact.  Unconscious  of  your  ever 
present  shadow  you  walk  in  the  sun :  just  as  surely 
does  an  ever  present  shadow  of  moral  influence 
follow  wherever  you  go. 

Some  men  are  always,  without  seeming  effort  or 
thought,  making   other   people  happy.     Like  the 
182 


Influence 

bride  under  the  apple  trees  of  the  Canticles,  we  sit 
under  their  shadow  with  great  delight ;  meet  them 
where  you  will  and  their  smiling  faces,  their  cheer- 
ful voices,  the  springing  foot,  the  silent  pressure  of 
the  hand,  encourage  and  comfort. 

But  there  are  others  whose  very  presence  de- 
presses and  saddens  us.  Oliver  Goldsmith's  Mr. 
Croaker,  whom  Lord  Lytton  reproduced  in  Mr. 
Wormwood,  is  as  truly  a  representative  man  as 
Bunyan's  Christian  Pilgrim.  We  meet  such  people 
every  day,  and  they  have  always  some  new  distress 
for  us.  Their  sweetest  smile  is  suggestive  of  the 
neuralgia,  and  their  most  cordial  greeting  depresses 
like  a  Boston  east  wind. 

Thus,  even  in  our  spheres  of  secular  life,  we  affect 
one  another.  Our  simple  presence  diffuses  either 
gloom  or  gladness.  Some  are  like  bright  palms 
beside  a  fountain,  and  some  like  dark  cypresses 
over  a  grave,  yet  all  alike  are  always  "casting 
shadows."  Even  this  is  a  most  important  lesson 
— our  unconscious  but  constant  influence  on  the 
happiness  of  others.  Would  we  all  might  learn  it ! 
then  how  much  brighter  and  more  beautiful  this 
world  would  become  ! 

But  this  fact  of  unconscious  influence  spreads 
out  into  wider  arenas  and  rises  into  higher  spheres, 
spheres  of  the  moral  and  the  spiritual  and  there- 
fore of  the  eternal.  Like  the  weird  specter  of  the 
Brocken,  our  shadows  are  projected,  and  become 
gigantic  upon  the  very  clouds  of  heaven.     That 

183 


Upward  Steps 

which  a  man  is,  that  sum-total  made  up  of  the 
items  of  his  beUefs,  his  purposes,  his  affections,  his 
tastes,  his  habits,  manifest  in  all  that  he  does  and 
does  not,  is  contagious  in  its  tendency,  and  is  ever 
reproducing  itself,  photographing  itself  on  other 
spirits.  He  himself  may  be  as  unconscious  of  this 
emanation  of  good  or  evil  from  his  character  as  he 
is  of  the  contagion  of  disease  from  his  body ;  or, 
if  that  were  equally  possible,  of  the  contagion  of 
good  health.  But  the  fact  nevertheless  is  certain. 
If  the  light  is  in  him,  it  must  shine.  If  darkness 
reigns,  it  must  shade.  If  he  glows  with  love,  it 
will  radiate  its  warmth.  If  he  is  frozen  with  self- 
ishness, the  cold  will  chill  the  atmosphere  round 
him;  and  if  corrupt  and  vile,  he  will  poison  it. 
Nor  is  it  possible  for  any  one  to  occupy  a  neutral 
position.  In  some  form  or  other,  for  good  or  for 
ill,  for  blessing  or  for  blight,  we  must  affect  others. 

In  a  cemetery  of  which  I  know  is  a  little  white 
stone  marking  the  grave  of  a  very  dear  little  girl,  and 
on  the  stone  are  chiseled  these  words  :  ''A  child 
of  whom  her  playmates  said,  '  It  was  easier  to  be 
good  when  she  was  with  us.'  "  Ah,  think  what  a 
shadow  of  blessing  her  ever  present  influence  must 
have  been  !  Yes,  and  let  us  know  that,  by  the 
silent  savor  of  unpretending  goodness,  the  same 
may  be  true  of  us  older  children  if  we  will.  You 
have  known  such  people ;  and  glad  am  I  to  say,  so 
have  I. 

Did  you  ever  open  a  drawer,  and  find  it  filled 
184 


Influence 

with  rich  fragrance  ?  every  article  in  it  just  saturated 
with  the  pleasing  odor?  What  did  it?  Why  just 
a  little  bit  of  rare  perfume,  only  a  grain  perhaps, 
hidden  in  some  corner. 

Such  is  the  effect  of  any  pure  and  beautiful  life. 
Its  sweetness  strikes  through,  reaches,  permeates, 
blesses.  Whole  lives  are  sweetened,  and  homes 
too,  and  entire  circles  and  communities — all  by 
the  delicate  fragrance  of  one  generously  loving 
life. 

Now,  not  what  we  have,  not  what  we  profess  to 
be,  but  what  we  are  gives  this  force  to  character. 
What  we  are  within  will  govern  what  we  are  with- 
out. So  it  is  with  the  rose.  "Why  are  you 
sweet?"  was  asked  of  the  scented  clay.  *'0h,  I 
was  so  long  in  the  sweet  society  of  the  rose  that  I 
partook  of  the  sweetness  of  the  rose. ' '  Let  the  rose 
once  become  what  it  is  and  it  costs  it  nothing  to 
shed  sweetness.  Sweetness  is  in  its  very  nature ; 
and  an  established  nature  will  reveal  itself. 

For  example,  you  go  into  your  garden,  in  the 
summer  season  of  the  year,  you  collect  a  handful 
of  fragrant  leaves  and  blossoms — this  leaf  of  gera- 
nium, that  bit  of  sweet-scented  verbena,  this  sprig 
of  mignonette,  and  that  blossom  from  yonder  bush, 
and,  carrying  them  in  your  hand,  in  a  thoughtful 
mood,  at  last,  forgetful,  put  them  heedlessly  in  your 
pocket.  There  they  are  hid.  By  and  by  you  go 
into  the  house ;  and  instantly  your  little  child  comes 
running  about  you  and  says,  '*  What  have  you 
1 8s 


Upward  Steps 

got  ?  "  "I  have  nothing, ' '  you  say.  Presently 
your  friends,  coming  round  you,  commence  sniffing 
and  saying,  "  You  have  a  perfume  about  you." 

You  cannot  keep  the  secret.  It  will  out.  If  you 
do  not  tell,  it  will  smell  itself  out.  Those  leaves 
and  blossoms  that  you  carry  concealed  from  view 
send  out  fragrance,  so  that  every  one  knows  you 
have  some  sweet-smelling  substance  about  you. 

Just  so  surely,  fellow-disciple,  will  what  you  are, 
the  hidden  essence  of  character  you  carry  with 
you,  reveal  itself,  and  others  must  know  and  feel 
its  influence.  The  atheist  who  spent  a  few  days 
with  the  saintly  Fenelon  said,  ''  If  I  stay  here  much 
longer  I  shall  become  a  Christian  in  spite  of  my- 
self. ' '  Fenelon  had  used  no  word  of  controversy 
or  solicitation.  It  was  but  the  quiet  unconscious 
influence  of  a  holy  life.  A  Christian  fragrance 
was  there  which  must  be  diffused ;  a  healing 
shadow  was  there  whose  blessing  must  be  felt. 

To  me  no  subject  in  physics  has  been  more  in- 
teresting than  that  mystery  in  electricity  known 
under  the  title  of  Induced  Currents.  Here  are  two 
wires.  They  are  parallel,  but  not  touching.  The  first 
receives  a  current.  The  passing  of  that  current,  by 
some  strange  law  of  electric  contagion,  sets  up  in 
the  other  wire  a  similar,  though  somewhat  feebler 
current.  It  is  this  law  which  accounts  for  the 
varied  voices  we  hear  when  listening  at  a  tele- 
phone, (the  lines  are  not  crossed,  as  some  think) ; 
or  by  taking  advantage  of  which  messages  may  be 
i86 


Influence 

sent  from  moving  trains.    It  is  known  as  the  law  of 

Induced  Currents. 

Equally  mysterious,  but  felt  and  experienced  by 
us  all,  there  is  another  just  such  law  in  the  sphere 
of  the  moral  and  the  spiritual.  Good  people  make 
us  better,  and  bad  people  make  us  worse, — even  to 
be  in  their  presence.  This  subtile  radiation  of 
character  we  all  have  felt.  We  know  it,  but  we 
cannot  understand  it,  any  more  than  we  can  under- 
stand the  strange  vibrations  of  a  piano  or  a  harp's 
strings  when  a  flute  is  played  upon  close  beside  it ; 
we  only  know  that  one  heart  answers  to  another 
heart,  as  the  one  sensitive  instrument  in  the  corner 
repHes  to  the  other  in  the  room,  by  sympathetically 
reproducing  the  same  melody  over  its  wires.  You 
know  that  it  has  been  stated  by  all  sensitive  musi- 
cians that  bad  players  injure  good  instruments, 
and,  on  the  otlier  hand,  that  apt  performers  im- 
prove indifferent  musical  apparatus.  This  it  is 
said  is  the  reason  why  fine  musicians  never  allow 
inferior  performers  to  play  on  their  favorite  instru- 
ments. 

I  often  think,  how  much  it  might  help  us  all  in 
life  if  the  vibrations  of  character  which  play  upon 
us,  and  which  we  thus  sympathetically  reproduce, 
were  good  and  only  good  !  And  I  am  sure  that 
none  of  us  can  covet  a  higher  ideal  than  a  char- 
acter so  Christlike  and  pure,  that  in  our  daily 
walk  among  men  the  very  shadows  we  cast  will 
render  life  more  beautiful  and  souls  more  true. 

187 


Upward  Steps 

Our  silent  and  unconscious  influence  is  the  most 
important  and  mighty  we  exert.  This  is  true,  for 
one  reason,  because  this  influence  is  constant.  Our 
voluntary  efforts  are  only  occasional  and  inter- 
rupted ',  but  our  unconscious  energy  is  ever-acting 
and  constant.  Just  as  we  may  speak  but  once  in  a 
day ;  but  we  live  every  moment.  Just  as  a  cloud 
in  the  sky  may  thunder  only  for  an  hour,  but  casts 
a  shadow  always.  So  the  little  things  which  we 
are  most  constantly  and  ordinarily  saying  and  do- 
ing tell  more  widely  and  radically  on  the  souls  of 
men  than  some  of  our  more  demonstrative  actions. 
Grand  opportunities  come  only  now  and  then.  A 
workman  may  ''show  off"  for  an  hour,  but  it  is 
not  so  easy  to  stick  steadily  at  work  all  day  long. 
Besides,  it  is  the  constancy  in  trifles  which  in  the 
long  run  tells.  Repeated  blows  of  a  little  hammer 
may  be  more  effective  than  the  single  downfall  of 
the  ponderous  sledge.  The  clock  strikes  at  inter- 
vals ;  the  ticking  is  momentary.  We  hear  the 
one ;  we  do  not  notice  the  other.  Yet  the  hour 
stroke  comes  not  if  the  ticking  fails.  Life  is  made 
up  of  the  constant  quietly  passing  moments,  not  of 
the  sudden  strikes. 

Again,  this  is  true  because  our  constant  and 
silent  energy  is  most  expressive  of  our  real  char- 
acter ;  and  therefore  comes  most  within  the  sphere 
of  what  we  term  moral  influence,  which  is  always 
the  most  important  and  weighty. 

Still  again  it  is  so,  not  only  because  constant  and 
i88 


Influence 

real,  but  because,  like  all  influence,  it  is  absolutely 
unending.  It  was  a  striking  remark  of  a  dying 
man  whose  life  had  been  most  poorly  spent,  ''Oh 
that  my  influence  could  be  gathered  up  and  buried 
with  me!"  It  could  not  be.  That  man's  influ- 
ence survives  him  ;  it  still  lives,  is  still  working  on, 
and  will  live  and  work  for  centuries  to  come.  No 
human  being  can  come  into  this  world  without  in- 
creasing or  diminishing  the  sum  total  of  human 
happiness,  not  only  for  the  present,  but  for  every 
subsequent  age  of  humanity.  No  one  can  detach 
himself  from  this  connection.  There  is  no  sequest- 
ered spot  in  the  universe,  no  dark  niche  along  the 
disc  of  nonexistence  to  which  we  can  retreat  from 
our  relation  to  others,  where  we  can  withdraw  the 
influence  of  our  existence  upon  the  moral  destiny 
of  the  world.  Everywhere  our  presence  or  absence 
will  be  felt ;  everywhere  we  will  have  companions 
who  will  be  better  or  worse  for  our  influence. 

It  is  an  old  saying,  and  one  of  fearful  and  fath- 
omless import,  that  we  are  forming  characters  for 
eternity.  Forming  characters  !  But  whose  ?  Our 
own  or  others  ?  Why,  both ;  and  in  that  momen- 
tous fact  lies  the  peril  and  responsibility  of  our 
existence. 

It  is  as  if  each  man  had  his  foot  upon  the  point 
where  ten  thousand  telegraphic  wires  met  from 
every  part  of  the  universe,  and  he  were  able  with 
each  volition  to  send  abroad  an  influence  along  the 
wires  so  as  to  reach  every  created  being,  and  every 
189 


Upward    Steps 

pulsation  of  his  heart  or  movement  of  his  mind 
modified  the  pulsations  of  every  other  heart  and  the 
movements  of  every  other  mind.  Indeed,  I  take 
it  that  this  is  the  moral  and  spiritual  meaning  of 
the  modern  doctrine  of  the  conservation  of  energy; 
so  that  the  poetic  sentiment  is  actually  true,  that 

"  The  smallest  bark  on  life's  tumultuous  ocean 
Will  leave  a  track  behind  forevermore ; 
The  lightest  wave  of  influence  set  in  motion, 
Extends  and  widens  to  the  eternal  shore." 

It  will  add  to  our  conception  of  the  importance 
of  this  truth  if  we  will  bear  in  mind  still  another 
fact,  that  for  our  unconscious  influence  we  are  most 
solemnly  responsible.  Many  would  most  gladly 
deny  it;  but,  honestly,  we  cannot.  Nothing  is 
more  plain  or  certain  than  that  we  are,  every  one 
of  us,  most  solemnly  responsible  for  every  particle 
of  the  measure  of  our  influence  upon  others,  be  it 
ever  so  unconscious.  For  one  reason,  because  we 
are  responsible  for  what  we  are.  If  our  character 
and  influence  are  bad  they  are  bad  by  choice — a 
choice  of  refusal  instead  of  acceptance  of  God's 
profl'ered  help.  This  is  what  Christ  meant  when 
he  said  to  his  rejecters:  <'Ye  will  not  come  to 
me,  that  ye  might  have  life."  Any  "will  not" 
leaves  us  responsible  for  what  after  that  we  are. 

We  are  responsible  also  because  we  cannot  be 
zeros  and  count  for  nothing.  In  a  world  like  this 
just  to  do  nothing  were  to  do  terribly  evil.  Take 
190 


Influence 

for  an  example  a  case  where  a  man  exerts  no  posi- 
tive influence  at  all. 

See  yon  traveler.  He  has  gone  forth  on  a  sum- 
mer day.  He  climbs  a  lofty  mountain.  His  path 
winds  along  a  sharp  precipice.  Weary  with  his 
walk  he  casts  himself  for  repose  under  a  cool  shade 
by  the  wayside.  Presently  a  blind  man  passes  by, 
feeling  his  way  with  his  staff.  The  man  looks  on 
him  in  silence  sees  him  approach  the  dizzy  brink, 
knows  that  he  is  in  mortal  peril,  but  utters  no 
warning ;  and  now  the  blind  man  slides  on  the 
yielding  verge,  and  there  is  a  wild  cry  and  a  plunge, 
and  he  is  dashed  into  a  shapeless  mass  upon  the 
rocks  a  thousand  feet  below  !  Now,  what  about 
that  man  ?  Will  he  say :  ' '  I  am  sorry  for  all  this. 
I  did  not  force  him  off.  I  was  listening  with  joy 
to  the  wild  birds  that  sang  in  the  woodland  when 
the  accident  happened  "  ?  But  you  righteously  ex- 
claim, ''Accident!"  ''Nay  sir!  nay  sir!  but 
the  man's  blood  is  upon  you !  you  murdered 
him!  " 

In  a  world  like  this  just  to  do  nothing  were  to 
do  evil  terribly ;  just  to  be  nothing  were  to  be  ter- 
ribly evil ;  for  at  the  least  it  deprives  some  one  else 
of  our  help.  One  can  no  sooner  detach  himself 
from  this  solemn  responsibility  than  he  can  detach 
himself  from  his  own  shadow  in  the  sunlight. 

Furthermore,  we  are  responsible  for  our  uncon- 
scious influence  because  even  if  we  would  we  can- 
not perish  alone.  If  a  man  could  perish  alone  in 
191 


Upward  Steps 

his  iniquity,  then  even  self-destruction,  this  moral 
suicide  of  ungodliness,  were  not  so  terrible.  If  the 
men  in  every  community  whose  daily  lives  are  un- 
godly— the  dishonest,  the  untruthful,  the  profligate 
and  profane,  the  law  breakers  and  truth  breakers 
and  home  breakers — if  they  were  only  shortening 
their  own  lives,  and  imperiling  their  own  immortal- 
ity, the  evil  would  not  be  so  bad  ;  but  the  sad  fact 
is  that  all  the  while  they  are  corrupting  and  en- 
dangering the  whole  life  and  soul  and  destiny  of  all 
those  with  whom  they  come  in  contact.  Over 
young  hearts  and  young  homes  and  older  hearts 
and  older  homes  they  are  casting  deadly  shadows 
of  blight.  The  old  mad  man  of  Sicily  flung  himself 
headlong  into  the  crater  of  Etna,  and  men  wor- 
shiped him  as  a  god ;  but,  think  you,  if  he  had 
folded  to  his  bosom  some  dear  little  child  as  he 
took  that  awful  plunge,  would  not  the  whole  land 
have  execrated  him  as  a  devil  ?  This  is  what  the 
wicked  are  doing  everywhere, — taking  others  with 
them  in  their  plunge  !  If  a  man  could  perish  alone 
in  his  iniquity  then  his  self-destruction  were  not  so 
awful.  If  his  influence  could  only  be  gathered  up 
and  buried  with  him,  his  wickedness  would  not 
seem  so  bad.  But,  alas  !  moral  suicide  is  never 
with  an  unshared  poison  cup,  but  with  an  infectious 
pestilence  so  that  every  one  who  comes  near  the 
man,  every  loving  heart  that  sits  in  sympathy  by 
his  sick  bed,  or  weeps  over  his  grave  is  exposed  to 
the  contagion  and  may  share  the  awful  death. 
192 


Influence 

Above  every  other  reason,  then,  we  are  responsi- 
ble for  our  unconscious  influence  because  even  if 
we  would  we  could  not  perish  alone.  Close  as  our 
own  shadow  in  the  sunlight  this  force  of  influence 
clings,  and  no  power  on  earth  can  shake  it  off. 
"  No  man  liveth  unto  himself,  and  no  man  dieth 
unto  himself." 

But  this  thought  has  surely  another  and  sweeter 
application ;  namely,  that  we  all  may  cast  healing 
shadows  of  blessing  if  we  will.  As  Peter  walked 
at  eventide,  his  lengthened  shadow  as  it  fell  on  the 
gathered  sick  in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  healing  as 
it  swept  over  them,  even  so  may  every  Christian 
still  go  through  the  earth  like  a  spirit  of  health  and 
sin-sick  souls,  miserable  and  fallen,  start  up  and 
live  as  he  passes.  In  this  sense  our  subject  has  a 
wealth  of  encouragement  and  consolation  for  every 
true  child  of  God.  The  silent  savor  of  unpretend- 
ing goodness,  the  fragrance  of  a  really  sincere  and 
useful  life  are  within  the  reach  of  every  one  of  us. 
Let  us  know  then  that  whenever  and  wherever  is 
found  a  loving  heart,  man  or  woman,  young  or  old, 
seeking  with  real  earnest  devotion  the  good  of 
others,  his  pathway  will  be  sought,  just  as  certainly 
as  on  that  day  when  they  brought  forth  the  sick  into 
the  streets  that  at  the  least  the  shadow  of  Peter 
passing  by  might  overshadow  some  of  them.  Let 
people  about  us  once  reach  a  confidence  in  our  sin- 
cerity of  helpful  devotion  and  they  will  show  a  faith 
in  us,  and  a  love  too,  like  that  old  Crimean  soldier 
193 


Upward    Steps 

showed  toward  Florence  Nightingale,  passing  along 
the  hospital  ward,  when  he  lifted  his  wounded 
aching  body  up  just  to  kiss  her  shadow  as  it  sud- 
denly ran  along  the  wall  ! 

Did  anybody  ever  kiss  your  shadow?  They 
will, — they  will  whenever  it  bears  the  healing  balm 
of  a  real  and  unassuming  goodness.  Beautiful, 
beautiful  to  live  such  a  life  !  is  it  not  ?  To  be 
sure  we  cannot  all,  like  Peter,  heal  the  sick  in  the 
temple ;  but  we  can  all,  like  him,  cast  healing 
shadows  in  the  streets. 

Do  you  ask  me  how  ?  Then  I  answer :  By 
standing  full  in  the  light.  I  mean  the  light  from 
the  presence  of  Christ.  The  sun  must  shine  out  to 
make  shadows.  The  clearer  the  shining  the 
stronger  the  shadow.  So  that  the  shadow  is  the 
result  of  the  light.  Then,  stand  in  the  Light. 
Get  under  the  clear  shining  of  the  ''  Sun  of  right- 
eousness." 

I  answer  again  :  By  surely  letting  that  shadow 
fall  on  others.  Peter's  shadow  was  eagerly  sought 
by  the  sick  ones  or  their  friends,  not  because  it  was 
a  shadow,  but  because  it  was  to  them  the  symbol 
of  healing  and  cheer.  So,  on  whatever  heart  or 
home  the  shadow  of  a  Christian  may  fall,  in  what- 
ever company  he  may  move,  his  coming  should 
bring  a  smile  of  pleasure.  A  manifest  blessing 
should  beam  in  his  face.  **  Winsome  Christianity  " 
is  the  title  I  have  seen  of  a  book, — it  is  the  kind  of 
life  everywhere  needed.  Let  us  know  that  from 
194 


Influence 

every  such  life,  God-guided,  Christ-filled,  there 
goes  out  an  ever  unconscious  influence  for  good 
which  is  a  savor  of  life  unto  life  to  dying  souls; 
and  that  standing  in  the  true  **  Light  of  the  world  " 
we  may  heal  men  as  Peter  did  when  it  was  just  be- 
cause his  shadow  fell  on  them. 


195 


XIX 

The  Chamber  of  Communion 


The  Chamber  of  Communion 

Life  cannot  be  lived  at  its  best  in  absolute  soli- 
tude. Neither  can  it  be  at  its  best  if  we  are  always 
in  the  company  of  others.  Continual  solitude  makes 
us  morose.  Continual  companionship  makes  us 
shallow.  We  need  both  society  and  solitude  if  we 
would  be  evenly  developed.  The  requirements  of 
religion  take  into  consideration  all  the  needs  of  our 
nature.  In  one  command  we  are  told  to  ''for- 
sake not  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together."  In 
another  equally  important  command  we  are  told  to 
''enter  into  our  closets  and  shut  the  door,  and 
pray  to  our  Father  which  seeth  in  secret." 

Private  prayer,  the  secret  communing  of  the  soul 
with  God  is  a  duty  too  much  neglected,  and,  in 
these  hurrying  times,  a  privilege  much  undervalued 
by  Christians. 

We  cannot  but  feel  the  importance  of  this  duty 
when  we  consider  upon  how  many  motives  the  call 
to  private,  personal  prayer  is  found  to  rest. 

We  have,  for  example,  Christ's  command, 
"Enter  into  thy  closet,"  etc.  That  is  enough.  If 
we  could  see  no  other  reason  for  the  exercise  it 
ought  to  be  enough  that  Christ  told  us  to  engage 
in  it. 

We  have,  moreover,  Christ's  example.  This 
199 


Upward  Steps 

gives  much  added  enforcement  to  the  duty.  Christ 
not  only  told  us  to  pray  in  secret,  but  he  prayed  in 
this  way  himself.  How  often  we  read  of  his  going 
out  into  the  mountain,  or  the  garden,  or  somewhere 
alone  to  pray.  If  Christ  needed  this  intercourse 
and  communion  with  his  Father  to  fit  him  for  and 
support  him  in  his  work,  how  much  more  do  we  ? 

The  duty  grows  also  out  of  the  personal  relation 
existing  between  ourselves  and  God.  God  thinks 
of  us  not  en  masse.  He  does  not  think  of  us  as 
churches  or  congregations  or  communities ;  but  as 
individuals.  Our  relation  to  him  is  an  individual 
relation.  Each  must  believe  for  himself,  repent  for 
himself,  pray  for  himself.  Our  sins  are  personal 
sins,  and  are  to  be  confessed  as  such  to  God. 
Our  blessings  are  personal  blessings,  and  call  for 
personal  expressions  of  gratitude  to  God.  All  this 
implies  personal,  private,  secret  prayer  and  com- 
munings with  God. 

Moreover,  secret  prayer  meets  a  deep  necessity 
of  our  nature.  God  knows  what  is  best  for  us. 
He  who  formed  us  knows  our  needs.  You  buy  a 
fountain  pen,  a  typewriter  or  a  bicycle.  The  first 
thing  you  look  for  is  a  <'  book  of  directions."  You 
believe  that  the  man  who  made  the  machine  under- 
stands it  best.  Certainly,  then,  our  Creator  knows 
our  needs;  and  he  it  is  who  commands  secret 
prayer.  There  is  no  telling  how  vital  is  the  rela- 
tion secret  prayer  bears  to  our  spiritual  welfare. 

Then,  too,  all  past   Christian  experience  shows 


The  Chamber  of  Communion 

how  necessary  and  valuable  it  is.  Men  of  prayer 
have  been  men  of  character.  Men  of  prayer  have 
been  men  who  enjoyed  high  spiritual  attainments. 
We  each  one  have  had  enough  experience  with 
private  prayer  to  be  convinced  of  its  great  value, 
and  to  know  how  sadly  it  would  affect  our  life  if 
we  were  to  go  without  it. 

A  few  suggestions  as  to  the  manner  in  which  we 
should  attend  to  this  duty  may  be  of  value  to  some 
of  our  readers,  especially  those  who  are  young,  or 
young  in  the  Christian  life. 

Have  a  place.  ''Enter  into  thy  closet."  It  is 
a  good  thing  to  have  a  place  where  we  can  resort 
for  prayer. 

Have  a  private  place.  ''  Thy  closet."  It  is  im- 
portant for  you  to  have  a  place  of  your  own  where 
you  are  secure  and  free  from  any  possible  intrusion. 
This  privacy  of  prayer  is  suggested  by  the  words 
''shut  thy  door."  This  is  to  shut  you  in  and  to 
shut  God  in,  and  to  shut  all  others  out.  Let  the 
swing  of  your  closet  door  shut  out  all  hurry  and 
business  cares  and  everything  that  can  interfere 
with  your  undisturbed  fellowship  with  God. 

Have  a  time.  It  is  wise  to  have  a  set  time. 
Habit  is  a  thing  of  great  importance.  It  makes  the 
duty  easier  and  pleasanter.  Besides,  it  is  the  only 
safe  way ',  because  if  we  do  not  form  such  habits 
we  are  almost  sure  to  give  up  the  practice  of  the 
duty  through  neglect. 

Have  a  posture.  We  think  it  wise,  even  in 
20 1 


Upward    Steps 

secret,  to  kneel  in  prayer.  Reverence  of  attitude 
is  conducive  to  reverence  of  thought. 

Have  words.  We  would  advise  the  use  of  spoken 
words,  even  in  private  prayer.  It  will  arouse  and 
quicken  thought.  It  will  reveal  to  each  soul  him- 
self. There  is  a  great  deal  of  private  prayer  which 
is  nothing  more  than  reverie.  Christians  even  sleep 
and  dream  they  pray.  It  is  better  to  keep  alert  by 
using  spoken  words. 

Have  wants.  Bring  real  petitions.  Ask  for 
things  to  meet  your  needs.  Do  not  be  hypocritical. 
Do  not  tell  God  falsehoods.  Do  not  say  things 
you  do  not  feel.  Ask  no  blessings  or  gifts  you  do 
not  want.  Express  gratitude  for  no  blessings  you 
do  not  feel  thankful  for.  In  all  your  words  of 
adoration  and  confidence  and  love  and  petition  be 
absolutely  sincere  and  true.  Your  converse  with 
God  should  be  as  free  as  friend  with  friend.  Let 
the  duty  never  be  hurried  over  ;  or  only  done  as  a 
task.  On  the  other  hand,  it  need  not,  of  necessity, 
be  long.  Claim  the  promises  of  God  ;  ask  in  the 
name  of  Christ;  be  faithful,  sincere,  devout,  and 
God  will  make  his  favor  manifest  in  an  untold 
number  of  ways.  He  will  reward  you  openly. 
Are  you  neglecting  this  duty  ?  Duty  it  is,  yet  it  is 
a  great  privilege.  Resolve  to  value  it  more.  Do 
not  forget  that  it  brings  blessings.  *' Thy  Father 
which  seeth  in  secret  shall  reward  thee  openly." 
''More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer  than  this 
world  dreams  of." 

202 


XX 

The  Prayer  That  Teaches  to  Pray 


The  Prayer  That  Teaches  to  Pray 

''Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven."  It  is  a 
prayerless  prayer  when  these  words  are  merely 
repeated  like  the  senseless  creaking  of  a  praying 
machine.  If  this  prayer  is  to  mean  anything  in  the 
ear  of  God,  it  must  be  the  heart-language  of  one  of 
his  children.  But  this  relation  once  truly  con- 
ceived, how  sweet  to  our  soul  is  the  title  ''  Father." 
If  God  be  my  Father,  then  he  loves  me ;  and  that 
means  everything — provision  for  needs,  protection 
in  danger,  comfort  in  afflictions,  success  in  work, 
triumph  over  sins,  and  heaven  at  last.  But  this  is 
not  the  prayer  of  isolated  being — the  petition  of 
exclusiveness  or  seclusiveness.  "Our  Father" — 
that  means  human  brotherhood ;  and  this  prayer 
can  only  rise  from  the  brotherly  spirit.  Further- 
more, the  Father  we  address  is  "in  heaven." 
This,  then,  is  the  prayer  of  a  child  away  from 
home.  The  look  of  the  soul  is  toward  its  heavenly 
home.  In  the  spirit  of  fraternal  love,  and  in  the 
loneliness  of  a  child  away  from  home,  let  us  say, 
"  Our  Father  which  art  in  heaven." 

' '  Hallowed  be  thy  name. ' '  In  this  petition  the 
child  of  God  prays  as  a  worshiper.  We  ask  that 
God  would  hallow  his  own  name  and  cause  it  to  be 
205 


Upward  Steps 

hallowed.  It  is  really  the  third  commandment 
turned  into  prayer — *'  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name 
of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain."  This  petition  takes 
precedence  because  it  is  so  all  inclusive,  desiring 
that  all  things  may  resolve  themselves  into  a  mani- 
festation of  the  divine  glory.  In  it  we  pray  that 
we  and  all  men  may  have  appropriate  thoughts  of 
God,  suitable  emotions  toward  God,  and  make 
reverential  use  of  his  names,  titles,  ordinances, 
word,  and  works.  We  pray  also  for  the  promotion 
of  public  and  private  worship  of  God,  the  diligent 
use  of  his  sacraments  and  institutions,  and  for  such 
a  diffusion  of  his  honor  throughout  the  world  as 
will  remove  all  cause  which  can  prevent  his  name 
being  hallowed.  In  it  we  should  resolve  against 
all  irreverence,  all  insincerity  in  worship,  all  perjury 
and  profanity  in  conversation,  and  upon  the  con- 
stant cultivation  of  a  devout  and  reverential  regard 
for  God's  name  and  nature. 

' '  Thy  kingdom  come. ' '  When  we  offer  this 
prayer  we  pray  for  the  regnancy  of  the  principles 
of  God's  nature  in  human  affairs.  We  ask  that  his 
authority  may  be  universally  recognized  and  his 
control  over  all  hearts  absolute.  This  prayer 
reminds  us  that  there  is  another  kingdom  besides 
God's  striving  for  establishment  in  the  world.  It 
suggests  difficulties  that  stand  in  the  way  of  the 
complete  establishment  of  his  beneficent  rule.  It 
expresses  our  acquiescence  in  and  alliance  with  all 
efforts  by  which  the  desired  result  may  be  secured. 
206 


The  Prayer  that  Teaches  to  Pray 

It  necessitates  the  cultivation  of  a  missionary  spirit. 
It  anticipates  a  certain  and  sure  answer,  enabling 
us  to  look  toward  the  future  with  hopefulness. 
Well  we  know  Christ  would  never  have  taught  us 
the  prayer  had  he  not  intended  to  answer  it.  But 
since  it  is  not  yet  fully  answered  let  us  live  for  that 
for  which  we  pray.  By  our  gifts,  our  thought,  our 
labor,  our  sympathy,  we  can  aid  in  answering  our 
prayer.  This  we  may  do,  cheered  by  many  en- 
couraging signs  of  final  attainment,  such  as  present 
facilities  for  effort,  past  success  of  effort,  and  the 
growing  union  in  effort. 

''Thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven." 
This  is  the  prayer  of  a  renovated  will.  The  will  of 
God  is  to  be  made  the  guide  and  measure  of  ours. 
''  Thy  will  " — not  Satan's,  not  mine.  Neither  are 
we  to  wait  till  we  get  to  heaven  to  do  God's  will, 
nor  take  any  earthly  standard  as  our  aim.  ''As  it 
is  in  heaven  " — how  is  God's  will  done  in  heaven  ? 
We  may  be  sure  it  is  done  intelligently,  and 
promptly,  and  cheerfully,  and  constantly,  and  uni- 
versally— indeed  perfectly.  There  all  do  God's 
will,  and  do  it  always.  This  petition,  too,  is  pro- 
phetic, and  points  to  a  time  when  ours  shall  be  a 
redeemed  race  living  upon  a  redeemed  earth,  when 
God's  will  shall  be  done  here  below  among  men  as 
it  is  now  done  by  the  angels  in  heaven.  We  may 
be  sure  that  Christ  would  never  have  taught  us  this 
prayer  had  he  not  intended  to  answer  it. 

"  Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread."  This  peti- 
207 


Upward  Steps 

tion  breathes  the  dependent  spirit  of  a  child  of  God 
subsisting  upon  his  Father's  bounty  and  care. 
''Bread,"  by  a  common  and  natural  figure,  signi- 
fies the  necessaries  of  life.  Praying  for  bread  im- 
plies honesty  and  industry.  We  do  not  ask  for  the 
bread  of  others,  or  of  deceit  or  idleness,  but  bread 
honestly  gotten.  We  virtually  ask  for  ability  and 
opportunity  to  obtain  our  daily  bread.  Praying  for 
"daily  bread,"  too,  implies  daily  prayer,  and  with- 
out anxiety  for  the  future.  We  are  thus  taught  to 
live  by  the  day,  neither  borrowing  good  nor  evil 
from  to-morrow.  We  ask  for  bread,  not  luxuries, 
not  dainties  ;  moderation  is  thus  taught  us.  "  Us  " 
and  "  Our  "  exclude  selfishness  and  incite  to  char- 
ity. Here  again  is  human  brotherhood  implied. 
We  all  are  bound  together  and  to  God  by  a  chain 
of  daily  benefits. 

"And  forgive  us  our  debts  as  we  forgive  our 
debtors."  Sins  are  debts.  They  are  entered  in 
God's  books.  They  increase.  They  can  never  be 
discharged.  They  cannot  be  transferred  to  any 
fellow-creature.  They  cannot  be  escaped  by  lapse 
of  years  or  change  of  residence.  Payment  will  be 
claimed.  How,  then,  can  the  debt  be  canceled? 
Not  by  repentance.  Not  by  good  works.  Not  by 
any  amount  of  seeking  and  striving.  But  solely  by 
God's  good  grace  forgiving  the  debt  for  the  sake  of 
Jesus  Christ.  "  In  him  we  have  remission  through 
his  blood."  This  petition  breathes  a  penitent  and 
forgiving  spirit.  By  it  we  are  reminded  of  our  con- 
208 


The  Prayer  that  Teaches  to  Pray 

stant  liability  to  sin.  We  are  led  to  separate  be- 
tween the  fact  and  theory  of  forgiveness.  We  are 
led  to  regard  forgiveness  as  a  favor  and  not  as  a 
claim.  We  are  reminded  of  the  only  condition 
upon  which  forgiveness  can  be  extended  to  us. 
And  we  are  taught  to  comply  with  that  con- 
dition. Only  those  who  show  mercy  can  expect 
mercy. 

"Lead  us  not  into  temptation."  Character 
would  be  valueless  were  it  not  for  trial.  The  es- 
sence of  this  petition  is  not  so  much  that  God 
would  prevent  our  having  any  testings  as  that  he 
would  lead  us  safely  through  any  such  as  would 
make  our  perseverance  not  only  difficult  but  doubt- 
ful. A  guide  on  the  mountain  leads  the  Alpine 
climber  where  danger  exists.  The  summit  cannot 
otherwise  be  reached.  In  avoiding  or  conquering 
the  danger  tire  traveler's  skill,  courage,  and  endur- 
ance are  both  tested  and  improved.  His  health 
and  manhood,  as  well  as  his  enjoyment,  are  secured 
by  being  thus  led  where  dangers  abound.  But  the 
leader  knows  what  path  is  practicable,  what  perils 
should  be  shunned,  and  is  ever  ready  to  lend  a 
helping  hand.  Thus  we  desire  our  heavenly  Guide 
to  take  us  when  we  pray,  "  Lead  us  not  into  temp- 
tation." Humility,  charity,  and  caution  are  also 
taught  in  the  right  use  of  this  prayer. 

*'But  deliver  us  from  evil."  In  this  petition  we 
are  taught  to  ask  God  to  deliver  us  from  the  evil 
that  is  in  the  world,  the  evil  that  is  within  our  own 
209 


Upward  Steps 

hearts,  and  above  all  from  the  "evil  one,"  the 
devil.  We  are  conscious  that  so  long  as  we  are  in 
the  body  we  are  constantly  seeing,  hearing,  and 
feeling  the  presence  of  evil.  It  is  about  us,  and 
within  us,  and  round  us  on  every  side.  And  we 
entreat  Him  who  alone  can  preserve  us  to  be  con- 
tinually delivering  us  from  its  power.  God  answers 
this  prayer  by  restraints  put  upon  Satan,  and  de- 
mons, and  evil  men,  by  many  ways  of  unseen  and 
unknown  deliverance  provided,  and  also  by  special 
grace  imparted  to  enable  his  children  to  deliver 
themselves. 

'<  For  thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and 
the  glory  forever.  Amen."  It  is  well  known  that 
some  of  the  oldest  and  best  manuscripts  do  not 
contain  these  closing  words.  Others,  and  some  of 
the  very  ancient  ones,  do.  (See  margin  of  r.  v.) 
We  are  content  to  follow  the  ages,  analogy,  and  the 
seeming  necessity  for  some  such  conclusion  to  the 
prayer.  The  doxology,  this  closing  sentence  is 
called.  It  is  an  ascription  of  praise.  All  prayer 
should  gather  itself  up  and  crown  itself  with  praise. 
And  that  praise  should  not  be  so  much  for  gifts  and 
graces  as  for  what  God  himself  is.  ''  Thine  is  the 
kingdom."  In  this  we  adore  God  as  King  univer- 
sal in  his  own  right  over  men,  and  angels,  and  all 
things.  <' And  the  power."  Titles  without  power 
made  authority  ridiculous.  But  we  ask  God  for 
nothing  but  what  he  is  abundantly  able  to  give, 
even  far  beyond  our  asking.  "  The  glory."  The 
210 


The  Prayer  that  Teaches  to  Pray 

honor  and  the  glory  of  all  the  giving  will  redound 
to  God  who  himself  is  glorious.  "  Forever."  All 
excellencies  which  are  in  God  are  in  him  eternally. 
<*  Amen."     So  be  it.     May  it  be  so. 


211 


XXI 

A  Closed  Door  and  a  Waiting  Saviour 


A  Closed  Door  and  a  Waiting  Saviour 

There  is  a  wonderful  picture  by  Holman  Hunt, 
called  ''The  Light  of  the  World."  It  represents 
the  Saviour  knocking  at  the  door  of  the  heart,  in 
illustration  of  the  passage  in  Rev.  iii.  20  :  ''Behold, 
I  stand  at  the  door,  and  knock,"  etc.  He  stands 
with  bowed  head,  listening.  Across  the  door  vines 
have  grown  ;  it  has  been  long  since  it  was  unclosed. 
He  holds  in  his  hand  a  lantern  from  which  the  rays 
fall  on  some  fruit  that  has  dropped  ungathered. 
His  back  is  toward  the  light  of  the  rising  moon. 
The  attitude  is  that  of  earnest,  importunate  waiting. 

There  is  another  picture,  by  the  artist  Bida,  which 
might  well  be  made  a  companion  piece  to  Hunt's. 
It  illustrates  the  passage  in  the  twenty-fifth  chapter 
of  St.  Matthew  regarding  the  five  foolish  virgins. 
They,  too,  are  waiting,  having  cast  themselves 
down  in  despair  on  the  steps  of  a  palace.  One 
represents  Jesus  standing  at  the  door  of  men's 
hearts  knocking  for  admission  there;  the  other 
shows  us  those  who  have  refused  to  hear  his  voice 
pleading  for  admission  into  his  heavenly  kingdom. 
One  refers  to  time,  the  other  to  the  morning  of 
eternity.  One  shows  how  easy  it  is  to  be  saved 
now  ;  the  other  shows  how  hopeless  we  will  have 
made  our  condition  if  we  harden  our  hearts,  neglect 
215 


Upward  Steps 

our  opportunities,  continue  to  exclude  Christ  and 
let  our  characters  become  fixed  in  the  mold  of 
evil. 

We  have  mentioned  the  first  picture  because  we 
believe  it  well  represents  the  case  of  some  who  may 
read  this  book.  It  presents  to  them  a  duty.  It 
may  also  open  to  them  a  hope.  We  refer  to  the 
second  one  because  it  may  present  a  warning  to 
any  inclined  foolishly  to  delay  the  matter  of  be- 
coming Christians.  How  sadly  many  there  are  in 
all  our  communities  and  congregations,  in  our  Sun- 
day schools.  Christian  Endeavor  societies  and  other 
organizations,  who  do  not  make  the  least  profession 
of  being  Christians  !  Very  many  there  are  who, 
if  plainly  asked,  would  probably  say  that  not  as 
yet  have  they  opened  their  hearts  to  admit  the 
Saviour,  or  accepted  him  to  rule  in  them  and  over 
them.  We  write  for  such,  and  ask  that  they  will 
let  the  thought  of  the  waiting  Christ  standing  be- 
fore the  fast-closed  door  of  their  hearts  move  them 
to  consider  what  a  wonderful  love  Christ's  love  is 
and  how  intense  must  be  his  desire  to  save  them. 

Infinite  love  is  certainly  manifested  in  the  fact 
that  Christ,  though  King  of  earth  and  heaven, 
comes  to  us,  not  waiting  for  us  to  go  to  him.  More 
than  this,  he  "stands"  in  the  position  of  a  sup- 
pliant. How  strange  that  any  one  should  hesitate 
to  hasten  out  and  entreat  him  to  come  in  as  right- 
ful Lord  and  most  welcome  guest  ! 

But  his  affectionate  desire  toward  us  is  not  satis- 
216 


A  Closed  Door  and  a  Waiting  Saviour 

fied  without  further  demonstrations.  ''Behold," 
saith  he,  *'I  stand  at  the  door,  and  knock."  He 
will  not  force  the  door ;  but  he  is  there,  standing, 
knocking.  He  is  not  merely  willing  to  save  you, 
but  has  an  earnest,  importunate  desire  to  save  you. 
It  is  not  the  prodigal  seeking  the  Father,  but, 
greater  love  than  that,  the  Father  seeks  the  prodi- 
gal Instead  of  your  seeking  him,  he  has  found 
you.  The  question  is  not.  Will  the  Saviour  accept 
you  ?  but,  Will  you  reject  the  Saviour  ? 

But  knocking  does  not  exhaust  his  efforts,  for  he 
calls,  ''If  any  man  hear  my  voice."  He  has  a 
voice,  a  kind  and  pleading  voice.  He  has  not 
spoken  a  single  harsh  word  to  you  as  he  has  stood 
at  the  door  of  your  heart.  The  Voice  is  the  same 
that  prayed  for  the  disciples  in  trouble ;  that  spoke 
healing  to  the,  sick  and  pardon  to  the  sinful ;  that 
said  in  Gethsemane's  garden,  "  Thy  will,  not  mine, 
be  done ; ' '  the  Voice  that  confessed  himself  a  King 
and  died  to  seal  the  testimony;  that  in  dying 
agony  spoke  from  human  love,  saying  to  John, 
"Behold  thy  mother;  "  that  with  expiring  breath 
spoke  to  the  dying  thief,  saying,  "To-day  shalt 
thou  be  with  me  in  paradise. ' '  Oh,  Voice  of  love, 
how  kind  thou  art !  It  is  this  same  Voice  that 
speaks  to  you,  unyielding  one,  and  says:  "If  any 
man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the  door,  I  will  come 
in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with  me. ' ' 

Bear  in  mind  that  Christ  will  never  force  the 
door  of  your  heart.  It  was  once  exclaimed  by  one 
217 


Upward  Steps 

of  our  most  eloquent  senators  that  an  Englishman's 
cottage  is  his  castle.  It  is  true.  The  winds  may 
whistle  through  every  crevice  and  the  rains  pene- 
trate through  every  cranny,  but  into  that  cottage 
the  monarch  of  England  dare  not  enter  against  the 
cotter's  will.  This  is  the  state  of  the  case  between 
Christ  and  the  human  soul.  He  has  such  a  respect 
for  the  will  of  that  immortal  tenant  which  he  has 
placed  within  us  that  he  will  never  force  an  en- 
trance. ''  If  any  man  hear  my  voice,  and  open  the 
door,  I  will  come  in,"  etc.  Having  heard  him, 
then  it  remains  for  you  to  unbar  your  heart  and  let 
him  in. 

A  young  boy  was  very  eagerly  listening  to  his 
father  as  he  read  the  chapter  in  which  these  words 
occur.  But  when  he  came  to  this  realistic  state- 
ment of  the  twentieth  verse,  ''Behold,  I  stand  at 
the  door,  and  knock,"  the  boy  could  no  longer  con- 
tain himself,  but  running  up  to  his  father,  eagerly 
asked,  ''Father,  did  he  get  in?"  We  ask  this 
question  now  of  you.  "  Has  Christ  got  into  your 
heart  ?  "     Oh,  let  him  in  ;  let  him  in  now  ! 

He  stands  and  knocks  and  calls ;  here  is  reason 
enough  why  you  should  open.  But  his  love  goes 
farther  yet.  He  makes  you  a  wonderful  promise 
as  to  what  will  happen  when  you  do  open  the  door. 
"  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  sup  with  him,  and  he 
with  me."  There  is  for  one  thing,  the  promise  of 
his  divine  incoming,  the  unqualified  assurance  that 
if  we  open  the  door,  he  will  come  in.  There  is  no 
218 


A  Closed  Door  and  a  Waiting  Saviour 

perhaps  or  perad venture  about  it.  If  we  want  to 
be  saved  he  will  save  us.  If  we  open  our  hearts  he 
will  enter.  There  is  also  promise  of  his  divine  in- 
dwelling. After  he  has  entered,  if  we  cherish  his 
loving  presence,  he  will  stay — dwelling  with  us, 
giving  us  an  earnest  of  the  joys  of  life  eternal.  He 
will  live  in  our  hearts,  instruct  us  in  the  way  of 
duty,  strengthen  us  for  contest  with  evil  and  help 
us  in  every  time  of  need.  This  is  the  more  plainly 
seen  by  his  promise  of  divine  fellowship.  He 
comes  in  as  a  most  precious  friend.  Not  in  wrath 
to  make  us  trouble,  but  to  be  our  most  intimate 
companion.  ''  I  will  sup  with  him,  and  he  with 
me."  He  sits  down  with  us  as  friend  with  friend, 
as  brother  with  brother,  at  a  familiar  table.  He 
talks  with  us,  and  invites  us  to  talk  with  him.  He 
opens  the  way /or  us  to  tell  him  of  all  our  sorrows 
and  our  joys,  our  perplexities  and  our  hopes,  our 
difficulties  and  our  desires ;  and  then  he  takes  of 
the  things  of  the  Father  and  shows  them  unto  us, 
and  we  are  filled  with  light  and  peace  and  strength 
and  holy  joy.  But  you  may  ask.  What  kind  of  a 
feast  can  I  give  for  such  a  Guest  ?  Fear  not  to  in- 
vite him  in,  for  strange  to  say,  the  Master  brings 
his  own  provision.  He  spreads  the  table  of  divine 
s'atisfaction  and  offers  to  you,  his  fortunate  and 
grateful  host.  ''Eat,  O  friend,"  he  exclaims; 
''drink;  yea,  drink  abundantly."  Maybe  you 
wonder  how  you  will  ever  be  able  to  serve  him  as 
you  ought,  if  you  do  admit  him  as  your  Lord.  Can 
219 


Upward  Steps 

you  hold  out  ?  Yes,  and  just  because  the  meat  he 
gives  you  increases  strength,  your  fellowship  with 
him  drives  out  evil,  and  he  makes  his  grace  suffi- 
cient for  you. 

Oh,  unsatisfied,  Christless  friend,  this  is  the  kind 
of  Saviour  who  is  standing  just  outside  the  fast- 
barred  door  of  your  heart.     Let  him  in  ! 

"  Oh,  love  that  passeth  knowledge, 
So  patiently  to  wait ! 
Oh,  sin  that  hath  no  equal, 
So  fast  to  bar  the  gate  !  " 

"  Oh,  lovely  attitude  !  he  stands 
With  melting  heart  and  bleeding  hands  !  " 

Open  the  door  and  let  him  in.  Swing  it  wide 
open  and  invite  him  in.  Receive  him,  welcome 
him  with  humble  gratitude.  Glory  in  the  fact  that 
he  has  come.  If  you  do,  that  seeking  One  will 
prove  both  your  Redeemer  and  Friend,  and  for 
time  and  for  eternity. 


220 


XXII 

Heaven  in  the  Heart 


Heaven  in  the  Heart 

A   MEDITATION    ON   THE   TWENTY-THIRD   PSALM 

••  Why  this  oft-perplexed  inquiry, 
Why  this  fretfulness  of  soul 
To  know  what  may  await  thee 
Gaining  life's  eternal  goal  ? 
Heaven  is  a  consummation, 
A  most  happy  culmination, 
A  well-brought  destination 
To  each  traveler  who  is  guided  by  *  Pilgrim's  Parchment 

Roll '  : 
Yes;  but  heaven  is  also  present;  part  of  transient  time's 

duration, 
A  hither,  inner  kingdom,  '  coming  not  with  observation ; ' 
Waiting  not  for'  realization 
Till  the  setting  of  life's  sun ; 
But  all  the  way  to  heaven  is  that  heaven  here  begun." 

The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd,  therefore  I  shall  not 
want.  Being  the  Lord,  he  is  rich  and  strong,  and 
able  to  give  me  the  things  I  need;  and  being 
shepherdly  in  his  love,  he  is  very  tender  and  kind, 
and  soHcitous  for  my  welfare.  It  is  for  this  reason 
that  I  am  so  sure  all  my  necessities  will  be  met.  I 
put  myself  gladly  under  his  care,  and  dwell  in  as- 
sured content  under  the  sense  of  his  over-shadow- 
ing love  and  providence. 

223 


Upward  Steps 

Trusting  this  Shepherd,  I  know  I  shall  be  well 
sheltered  and  fed.  He  will  make  me  to  lie  down 
in  the  greenest,  sweetest  and  most  protected  pas- 
tures. Here  will  I  find  both  food  convenient  for 
me  and  the  rest  that  refreshes.  Well  guarded  and 
led  he  will  conduct  me,  not  into  the  barren  desert 
or  the  wooded  forest,  but  where  are  the  most  beau- 
tiful and  fertile  fields,  and  beside  still  waters  and 
gentle-flowing  streams  that  gladden  the  landscape 
in  view.  Here,  too,  find  I  the  purest  of  sparkling 
water  to  quench  my  thirst,  and  to  keep  my  life  ever 
at  its  best.  Yes,  and  even  though  I  should  for  any 
reason  become  weak  and  sickly,  then,  under  his 
loving  care,  he  restores  my  soul  and  makes  me  well 
again.  Though  I  wander  into  bypaths  and  for- 
bidden thickets  of  sin,  yet  he  brings  me  back  into 
the  paths  of  righteousness,  for  his  name's  sake. 
He  revives  me  when  faint,  recovers  me  when  sick, 
restores  me  when  wandering.  And,  oh,  how  often 
and  how  foolishly  do  I  wander  ! 

"  Prone  to  wander,  Lord,  I  feel  it ; 
Prone  to  leave  the  God  I  love  " : 

yet  this  Shepherd  and  Bishop  of  my  soul  never 
gives  me  up,  but  out  on  the  cold  mountains  seeks 
the  wayward  one,  bringing  me  back  again  under  his 
protecting  care.  Belonging  to  him,  his  name  is 
upon  me,  and  both  out  of  love  to  me  and  a  desire 
to  uphold  the  honor  of  his  name,  he  leads  me  back 
into  the  right  way  again  and  places  me  in  his  fold. 
224 


Heaven  in  the  Heart 

He  restoreth  my  soul ;  he  leadeth  me  in  the  paths 
of  righteousness  for  his  name's  sake. 

But  this  Shepherd  of  mine,  having  been  with  me 
in  Ufe,  will  not  forsake  me  in  death.  This  I  argue 
because  of  the  fact  of  my  many  past  blessings. 
Because  he  has  been  with  me  thus  far  I  am  confi- 
dent that  he  will  be  with  me  even  to  the  end.  Yes, 
and  he  will  be  with  me  at  the  end.  Yea,  though  I 
walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  I 
will  fear  no  evil.  To  have  no  fear  in  death  is  cer- 
tainly a  great  boon,  and  yet  this  boon  is  mine. 

This  death  journey  is  to  be  a  valley  journey,  I 
learn.  Right  glad  am  I  too  that  this  is  so.  Valleys 
are  sheltered  places.  The  storms  break  on  the 
mountain  tops.  The  way  I  am  to  go  is  not  through 
a  wild  woodland  or  over  some  bleak,  storm-riven 
mountain,  but  through  the  sheltered,  fruitful,  peace- 
ful region  of  a  valley. 

But,  glad  and  happy  thought,  it  is  not  the  valley 
of  death  at  all,  as  I  supposed.  It  is  the  valley  of 
the  shadow  of  death.  Then  it  can  be  nothing  more 
than  the  shadow,  or  the  appearance  of  death — not 
really  death.  I  do  not  fear  a  shadow.  The  shadow 
of  a  sword  never  slew  anybody.  The  shadow  of 
a  serpent  never  stung  any  one.  If  I  am  only 
to  pass  through  a  shadow,  I  have  no  reason  to  fear 
at  all.  After  all,  then,  death  does  not  seem  to  be 
death.  It  is  only  a  seeming.  It  really  must  be 
true,  therefore,  that  there  is  no  death ;  that  what 
seems  so  is  transition,  and  that  this  life  of  mortal 
225 


Upward  Steps 

breath  is  but  a  suburb  of  the  life  Elysian,  whose 
portals  we  call  death.  We  say  that  the  sun  sets, 
but  it  never  does  really  set.  It  only  seems  to  set. 
We  speak  of  it  as  setting  only  because  its  evening 
condition  looks  like  a  going  down.  In  reality  it 
has  only  the  seeming  of  setting,  and  meets  us  as 
bright  as  ever  next  morning.  Sleep  looks  like 
death,  but  it  is  not  death.  Neither  is  death  itself 
really  death ;  it  is  only  the  shadow  or  the  appearance 
of  death.  Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death,  I  will  fear  no  evil. 

But  there  is  another  precious  reason  why  I  have 
no  need  for  fear.  This  passing  through  the  valley 
is  a  ''walk" — not  at  all  what  I  had  imagined.  I 
had  thought  of  it  as  some  hurried,  frightened  enter- 
ing upon  an  unwelcome  flight,  or  some  rude  hus- 
thng  away  upon  a  forced  and  fatiguing  journey. 
But  if  it  is  a  walk,  then  it  must  be  something  quiet 
and  deliberate,  something  prepared  for  and  peace- 
ful, possibly  even  pleasant.  I  had  not  thought  of 
death  so.  I  had  been  thinking  of  it  as  an  awful 
summons,  a  sudden  flight,  a  something  full  of  haste 
and  fright  and  terror.  But  no,  it  is  a  "walk,"  so 
quiet  and  peaceful  a  thing  as  an  evening  walk  amid 
the  pleasant  shadows  of  sunset.  I  wonder  that  I 
never  noticed  the  words  more  carefully ;  for  I  see 
even  further  that  it  is  not  said  to  be  a  walk  in  the 
valley.  That  might  suggest  something  continuous, 
like  the  weary  wanderings  of  one  lost  in  the  dark, 
or  entangled  among  the  uncut  forests  of  the  valley, 
226 


Heaven  in  the  Heart 

or  amid  the  confusing  or  intricate  paths  of  the  val- 
ley. But  no,  the  walk  is  not  in  the  valley,  but 
through  the  valley.  Ah,  then,  it  must  be  a  straight 
and  plain  path,  and  one  that  leads  somewhere.  It 
must  be  a  direct  journey  to  a  distinct  destination. 
Yes,  I  am  assured  that  it  is,  and  that  the  destina- 
tion is  nothing  less  delightful  than  heaven  itself. 
How  then  can  I  fear  when  once  by  faith  I  have 
connected  the  valley  with  the  heaven  to  which  it 
leads?  This  must  be  like  the  flight  of  a  bird 
through  some  dark  cloud,  and  then  out  into  the  full 
light  of  the  sun.  It  must  be  like  some  traveler 
journeying  through  a  deeply-shadowed  canon  be- 
tween the  mountains,  and  then  coming  out  into  the 
broad  and  smiling  country  where  the  sun  is  shining 
in  his  glory,  and  where  every  green  herb  and  beau- 
tiful flower  is  springing  up  to  bless.  Surely,  if  it 
is  only  a  quiet  walk  through  the  sheltered  valley, 
and  the  valley  itself  opens  out  full  and  broad  in 
the  shining  fields  of  heaven,  why,  indeed,  should 
I  fear? 

But  better  still ;  I  do  not  have  to  go  through  even 
this  peaceful  valley  alone.  For  thou  art  with  me  ! 
My  Shepherd  is  with  me  !  He  who  cared  for  me 
all  my  life  long  is  still  with  me,  at  my  side,  my 
Companion,  my  Defender,  my  Guide.  No,  no,  I 
will  fear  no  evil,  for  thou  art  with  me.  With  thy 
rod  dost  thou  point  out  the  way.  With  thy  staff 
dost  thou  give  me  support.  How  then  can  I  be 
lost  or  wander  from  the  path  of  safety,  or  how 
227 


Upward  Steps 

faint  by  the  way?  Companionship,  the  sweetest 
and  most  cheering,  I  have ;  for  there  walks  by  my 
side  every  moment  my  dear  Lord,  who  all  my  life 
through  has  shepherded  my  soul,  and  now  at  last 
brings  me  to  the  heavenly  fold,  where  I  shall  be  for- 
ever both  safe  and  satisfied.  Long  as  my  life  have 
been  his  favors,  and  so  bountiful  as  to  cause  even 
mine  enemies  to  remark  such  goodness.  Like  some 
honored  guest  at  a  feast  has  my  head  been  anointed 
with  precious  and  fragrant  oil ;  indeed  it  has  been 
the  oil  of  gladness  and  joy  from  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Truly,  so  many  and  so  rich  and  so  full  have  been 
his  favors  to  me  that  my  cup  could  not  contain  so 
much.  Not  that  anything  has  been  lost,  but  I 
know  how  it  is  with  a  cup ;  the  little  drops  that 
trickle  down  the  sides  may  not  be  much  in  them- 
selves, but  they  tell  that  the  vessel  is  full.  They 
can  best  express  the  greatness  of  the  shower  by 
flowing  from  the  cup's  brim,  and  in  happy  token  of 
abundance  running  over.     My  cup  runneth  over. 

Though  more  than  I  could  contain  has  God 
given,  yet  better  still  holds  he  in  store  for  me.  En- 
larging my  soul's  capacity  he  takes  me  to  his  pres- 
ence. Here  at  the  journey's  end,  his  twin  angels. 
Goodness  and  Mercy,  having  followed  me  all  the 
days  of  my  life,  now  I  am  to  dwell  in  the  house  of 
the  Lord  forever — in  my  Father's  house,  in  my 
Father's  home,  in  my  Father's  royal  heart  and 
presence  am  I  to  dwell,  and,  thrice  blessed  fact, 
forever  !  It  almost  seems  with  me,  all  unworthy 
228 


Heaven  in  the  Heart 

though  I  am,  as  when  the  son  of  some  great  king 
comes  back  from  foreign  soil  to  his  father's  do- 
minions, and  is  welcomed  at  every  stage  of  the 
journey  to  the  capital  with  pomp  of  festival  and 
messengers  from  the  throne,  until  at  last  he  enters 
his  palace  home,  where  the  travel-stained  robe  is 
laid  aside,  and  he  sits  down  with  his  father  at  his 
table.  The  pilgrim  arrives  !  Surely  goodness  and 
mercy  having  followed  me  all  the  days  of  my  life, 
now  I  shall  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  forever. 
Happy  consummation  of  what  was,  after  all,  a 
happy  journey,  for  I  have  found  that  all  the  way  to 
heaven  was  heaven  begun. 


229 


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Date  Due 

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Mr 

It  -. 

^y  3 1  ^ 

D 

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